Maria Sharapova Profile

Maria Sharapova of Russia plays a return shot during her semifinal women's singles match against Kim Clijsters of Belgium at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, 25 January 2007

Maria Sharapova came incredibly close to winning her first Australian Open title in 2005, when she held Serena Williams to three match points. She was unable to convert her match points and was eventually denied a second grand slam title by Serena in a 2-6, 7-5, 8-6 defeat.

Sharapova later failed to defend her Wimbledon title, but still managed to reach the no.1 ranking for the first time in her career. Maria Sharapova made it to the semifinals of the Australian Open in 2006, but was again denied the coveted title - this time by the aggressive Justine Henin. Later in the year Sharapova would claim her first grand slam title on hard courts by winning the US Open.

At the Australian Open 2007, Sharapova reached the final by defeating Vera Zvonareva, Anna Chakvetadze and Kim Clijsters.

The Russian had the misfortune of running into a rampant Serena Williams in the final, and was soundly thrashed 6-1, 6-2. More failure was to follow as Sharapova crashed out of the 2007 US Open in a third round defeat to Polish teenager, Agnieszka Radwanska.

Sharapova bounced back at the 2008 Australian Open defeating former world no.1 Ana Ivanovic in the final without dropping a set. The 21-year Russian media darling then suffered a shocking loss at Wimbledon, losing out in the second round to Alla Kudryavtseva. A shoulder injury kept her out of the last grand slam tennis event of the year as well as much of the 2009 tennis season.

Some of Maria Sharapova's career highlights include :

  • Becoming the third-youngest Wimbledon women's champion in 2004
  • With her US Open 2006 victory, she joined the list of players who had beaten the top 2 ranked players in the world to win a Grand Slam
  • At the Australian Open 2007 she had to play in temperatures in excess of 50 degrees centigrade (122 degrees Fahrenheit) on court.
  • Forbes magazine listed her as the highest-paid female athlete in the world in 2005. In total she earns about 13.4 million UK pounds per year, 90% of which comes from endorsements
  • She was name Best Female Tennis Player by ESPN in 2008