Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova; born April 19, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player. A United States resident since 1994, Sharapova has competed on the WTA tour since 2001. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the WTA on five separate occasions, for a total of 21 weeks. She is one of ten women, and the only Russian, to hold the career Grand Slam. She is also an Olympic medalist, having earned silver for Russia in women's singles...
NationalityRussian
ProfessionTennis Player
Date of Birth19 April 1987
CityNyagan, Russia
CountryRussian Federation
I think it's so cool to be tall. Even when I'm not wearing heels people tell me I'm tall and I always take it as a complement. The good thing is I can always see everybody in the room.
When I need to push myself, I think of all those nicely polished trophies waiting to be lifted up by the winner - and how that winner might be me.
When I come into a tournament, I'm expecting to win. That's my philosophy. I can't go to a tournament thinking, 'I'm going to get my ass kicked today, so I might as well leave.'
I never think about the numbers. I've never played tennis for the money, because as long as I enjoy it, and I can achieve anything, then the money will come. I know that things will start coming up, many more people will want to start getting involved. But I just want to keep my head cool, and I want to leave (business) to the people who take care of business. I just go out and I just play tennis.
I'd probably start charging for medical timeouts. I think we'd all see who really uses them and who doesn't.
Sugar free? With the name Sugarpova I don't think I will be doing anything sugar free very soon.
I love getting consumer reports. I think it's one of my favourite things, studying what people have to say about the product and then trying to make it better.
I mean, I think I'm doing a lot better than other people that have had shoulder surgery in their careers. Some people have never come back.
I think when you know what you are going to wear, it fits and it's great material, then you feel confident in it.
I know you are reporters and I know this is your job, but, you know, take your note pads, take your pencils down, take your grunt-o-meters down, the fashion police, put everything away and just watch the match, you know, from just the fans' perspective. I seriously think that the quality of the match today was great.
People always ask about young people like me being forced into things. I play tennis because I love it. I think Russians might be tougher than other people. When I arrived in America I was young, but I already knew what I wanted. I think that when you start from nothing, when you come from nothing, it makes you hungry. I am proud of where I came from and I know what I want. I want to win.
I think when you have surgery on any part of your body, it’s never going to be the same,
I don't follow other players or the tournaments they play. I have my own schedule and do my own thing. I never really think, 'Oh, I want to be or play like so-and-so.' I just like being myself.
I think that's why I play tennis, because of the challenge, because of the competition, .. That's why we love to play tiebreaker in the third set. It makes it more exciting, and the bigger support in the stand, and more fans involved in it. I really enjoyed the competition and took a lot of hard work to make myself No. 1 at 18 years old.