Biography

Date of Birth: April 19, 1987
Birthplace: Nyagan, Russia (Siberian Region)
Residence: Bradenton, Florida, USA
Nationality: Russian
Height: 5'9'' (1.75 m)
Weight: 112 lbs. (50.8 kg)
Plays: Right-handed
*Travels with father and works with coaches Michael Baroch and Robert Lansdorp
*Started hitting tennis balls at age four
*At six, participated in exhibition in Moscow that featured Martina Navratilova
*began training at Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida, USA, at age nine (which required a two-year separation from mother due to visa restrictions and finances)
*Off-Court interests include fashion, singing, jazz dancing and movies (favorite is Pearl Harbor) *Enjoys reading books in the Sherlock Holmes and Pippi Longstocking series
*Favors Russian music and food, Russian food (except for Italian bread)
*Says favorite dessert is 'anything.'


Maria's family fled Belarus after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and moved to Siberia. "I am Maria Sharapova and not anyone else." You can understand her adamance. There's the accent, the ponytail, the potential .. the inevitable comparisons to Anna K. But this Russian stunner has actually won a tourney. Two in fact. "I don't like to lose," Sharapova says. "I don't give up. I'm tough." Tough like her parents who were expecting their first (and only) child whent hey fled Belarus for Siberia in 1986, to avoid radiation from the Chernobyl disaster. (They would later settle in Florida). Tough enough as a 7-year-old to show up uninvited at Nick Bollettierei's Tennis Academy and wow the instructors with her first stroke. The six-foot Sharapova has pounded her way toward the top of the tennis rankings. "She plays without fear," says her coach Rober Lansdorp. Which makes sense. She's not the one who should be afraid.
-Lindsay Berra ESPN the mag