Success Story: Maria Sharapova

Maria Sharapova is a tennis player currently ranked in the top ten according to the Women's Tennis Association. Since the start of her career, she has won 32 titles and been to the top of the singles rankings 5 ​​times, holding the No. 1 spot for 21 weeks.

Her story told the project Museum of Russian-American Heritage.

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova was born in Nyagan, USSR. When Maria was 2 years old, the family moved south to Sochi. There, her father Yuri met Alexander Kafelnikov, the father of the famous tennis player, who gave 4-year-old Sharapova her first tennis racket. The gifted girl began studying almost immediately, first with her father and then with a coach.

When Sharapova was 6 years old, Martina Navratilova saw the girl and strongly recommended that her parents send their daughter to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida - the academy that graduated Andre Agassi, Monica Seles and Anna Kournikova.

The family had little money, and Yuri had to borrow the amount needed to travel to America. Sharapova and her father (the mother could not get a visa) arrived in Florida with $ 700 in their pocket. Yuri undertook a variety of jobs, including washing dishes, to pay for his daughter’s living and training.

Success came to Sharapova when she was just 17 years old - she defeated two-time champion and ranking leader Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final in 2004. The victory catapulted her into the WTA rankings - she entered the top ten. The following year, Maria became the leader of the rankings and won a number of prestigious titles at the 2006 US Open, 2008 Australian Open, 2012 French Open and 2014 French Open.

In addition to tennis, Sharapova has had a distinguished career in modeling, appearing in dozens of advertising campaigns for top brands including Cole Haan, Nike, Prince and Canon. She also starred in Sports Illustrated's acclaimed bikini issue. And in collaboration with candy market veteran Jeff Rubina, she created the Sugarpova line of candies.

According to some reports, on the eve of 2013 US Open, Sharapova was seriously planning to change her last name to Sugarpova, but in the end she refused such a radical advertising step.

Since February 2007, Sharapova has been a UN Goodwill Ambassador and has been involved in programs related to Chernobyl - her parents once lived in the region affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. From 2005 to 2010, Forbes magazine named her one of the XNUMX most powerful celebrities on the planet.

Sharapova's personal life is also of great public interest. It is known that from 2009 to 2012 the year she lived with the Slovenian basketball player Sashets Vujacic. From 2012, she meets with Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov.

In the traditional annual Forbes ranking of the highest paid sportsmen of the world, the Russian woman took the 2015 place in 26, however, only men are above her, which makes her the richest woman in the world of sports. For comparison, the income of American Serena Williams, acting first racket of the world, about $ 5 million below - $ 24,6 million.

In 2016 year Sharapova on 2 of the year was disqualified due to anti-doping rule violation.

The Russian woman's disqualification began on January 26, 2016. That day, during the Australian Open, she took a doping test, which gave a positive result - traces of meldonium were found in the athlete’s blood. Sharapova was also stripped of prize money and ranking points for her participation in the Australian Open.

Because of the scandal, Sharapova lost several major sponsors - cooperation with the former first racket of the world suspended Nike, Porsche and TAG Heuer.

The German automaker Porsche announced the suspension of cooperation with the winner of the 5 Grand Slam tournaments. In April, 2013, Sharapova signed a contract with Porshe for the 3 year.

The Swiss watch manufacturer Tag Heuer, which, as it turned out, 31 December 2015, expired the previous agreement with the tennis player, refused to negotiate an extension of the contract.

When, after the completion of the hearing of the Tribunal of the International Tennis Federation, the absence of premeditated actions aimed at violating the anti-doping rules on the part of the athlete was found, Nike resumed cooperation with Sharapova.

According to Forbes magazine, the collaboration with Nike brings Sharapova the lion’s share of its $ 29,2 million annual income. Of these, only $ 6,7 million the Russian woman received as a prize for the competition, the remaining amount goes to her accounts from advertisers and her own business - sweets production Sugarpova.

In addition, other athletes sponsors: Evian Water, Samsung, Head, and Avon retained a partnership with Sharapova.

The athlete decided not to waste time during the period of disqualification, and focused on its development.

It entered Harvard Business School.

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