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Maria Sharapova: French Open
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By 2003, Maria Sharapova had paid her dues and was able to play in the big leagues. She joined the WTA Tour and impressed everyone with her talent. For that season, she came away with 34 wins and a negligible 11 losses. Sharapova ... won two professional titles: Quebec City and the Japan Open. She also won two doubles titles with Tamarine Tanasugarn: Luxembourg and the Japan Open. When the season was over, her ranking had improved to place her at No. 32.
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CNN/Money's Chris Isidore writes about the powerful impact that tennis star Maria Sharapova has made on advertising and marketing of the game. The 17-year old has garnered sponsorships and tons of attention, having appeared on numerous television programs. But, as Pilot Pen Tennis director Anne Worcester points out in the article, "no tournament should center all of publicity around one player." Which should be a lesson for the upcoming U.S. Open in Flushing, New York.
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On March 18, 2006, Sharapova, as No. 3 seed, claimed her first title of the year at the Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells (a Tier 1 event), defeating No.4 seed Elena Dementieva in the final, 6-1 6-2. This was the 11th title of her career. Sharapova was the first Russian to reach the final of the Pacific Life Open. As Dementieva reached the final later, surprisingly defeating Justine Henin-Hardenne, this was the first-ever all-Russian final at the event. Soon after, Sharapova reached the final of the Nasdaq-100 Open losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova 4-6, 3-6. She then took 2 months off because of an ankle injury, resulting in her pulling out of events in Rome and Istanbul.
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Highest-paid female athlete in 2006, Maria Sharapova is currently the reigning U.S. Open champion. Sharapova has been living in the United States since she was 7 years old when her father brought her there to attend the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida but she still retains her Russian citizenship. 9 more pics of Sharapova after the jump.
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Paris - Maria Sharapova put Russia on a roll at the weather-plagued French Open while local heroine Amelie Mauremso got off to her best start in years at the home Grand Slam on a wet Wednesday. more
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Maria Sharapova ended Justine Henin's 32-match winning run to advance to the Australian Open semifinals for the fourth straight year. In one of the most consistent performances of her career, fifth-seeded Sharapova thrashed the world number one 6-4 6-0.
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