WTA Stunners

Early Life 

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova was born in 1987 to Yuri and Elena, in the industrial town of Nyagan, Western Siberia, Russia. Her parents had earlier lived in Gomel, Belarus, but were forced to move following the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in 1986. At the age of four Sharapova was given her first tennis racket by a family friend, Aleksandre Kafelnikov, whose son Yevgeny would go on to become a Grand Slam champion at both the French and Australian opens. Aged six, Sharapova attended a tennis school in Moscow run by, 31 time Grand Slam winner, Martina Navratilova. Navratilova was so impressed by the young Sharapova that she suggested her parents allowed her to receive professional coaching in the United States.

Sharapova and her father (neither of whom could speak English) moved to Florida in 1994, her mother would not join her for a further two years as she could not obtain a visa. In 1995 Maria was enrolled at The Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, a former academy of tennis stars such as Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jennifer Capriati and Martina Hingis. Yuri struggled to pay for her tuition fees having to take odd jobs and take Maria to the academy on his bike. But His hard work and determination paid off when in November 2000, 13-year-old Maria exploded onto the world tennis stage with an notable triumph in the Girls under 16 Eddie Herr Championships.

WTA Career 

Sharapova turned professional in 2001, although she played just one tournament, on the ITF Circuit, that year. The next year, Sharapova became the youngest girl to make the final at the Australian Open junior tournament, a feat she repeated at Wimbledon the same year. She also won three titles on the ITF Circuit and played her first matches on the WTA Tour, including a first round victory at the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California before losing to Monica Seles in the second round.

In October 2003 Maria won her first title at the Tier III tournament in Tokyo against Anikó Kapros and then won another Tier III tournament four weeks later in Quebec City against Milagros Sequera. She completed the 2003 season ranked World No. 32 and was named the WTA Newcomer of the Year.

2004 saw Maria win her first of three Grand Slam titles at The Championships, Wimbledon. Staring the tournament seeded only 13^th she progressed to the second week and after seeing off Lindsey Davenport in the semi final Sharapova defeated top seed Serena Williams 6-1 6-4 in the final. Maria won five tournaments in total that season the others being the DFS Classic, Birmingham, Korea Open, Seoul, Japan Open, Tokyo and the WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles. Sharapova also topped the prize winnings list for the year.

Sharapova finished 2005 ranked World No.4 again but was the top-ranked Russian for the first time in her career. She won three titles during the year and was the only player to reach three Grand Slam semi-finals.

In 2006 Sharapova equalled her 2004 haul of 5 tittles, including her second grand slam success. As the third seed at the US Open, Sharapova reached the semi-finals without dropping a set. She then overcome World No.1 Mauresmo in the semi-finals 6–0, 4–6, 6–0 and World No.2 Henin in the final 6-4,6-4. Sharapova lost only one set during the entire tournament.

2007 was a disappointing year for Maria winning only one title, the Acura Classic, San Diego. She was also beaten to the number one ranked Russian player by Svetlana Kuznetsova. However at the start of the 2008 season Sharapova began to show signs she was back to her best taking the Australian open title in January, defeating Ana Ivanović 7–5, 6–3 in the final, and two further titles by the end of April.