Maria Sharapova was born on April 19, 1987 in Nyagan, a town in the Siberian region of Russia. In 1989, the family moved to the Black Sea resort town of Sochi. 

When she was 4 years old, a chance encounter changed her life. She met with the father of tennis champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov, and the man gave her a racket. From that moment, she started hitting tennis balls. The game soon became a passion for her. At the age of seven, Maria moved to Nick Bollettieri's tennis-academy in Florida with her father. 

Her official tennis career began in 2001, when she joined the junior circuit. During that year, she won 25 matches and only lost three. In the process, she came away with three titles: Sacramento, Hilton Head and Pilsen in the Czech Republic. 

A brilliant tennis player with a deadly backhand, Maria Sharapova was the youngest titlist on the WTA Tour in 2003 with two championships under her belt. Although she has since curbed her enthusiasm somewhat, she used to be called the "Siberian Siren" because of her extremely loud grunting whenever she hit the ball.  

By 2003, 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. Also, Maria-Sharapova-Site.com webmster is proud to recommend T-Mobile Ringtones if you are interested by any chance.  

Sharapova also 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 number 32. 

By 2004, Sharapova was as strong as ever—she wowed Wimbledon audience by defeating champion player Serena Williams. This victory made Sharapova the first Russian to win a Wimbledon singles, and the third youngest women’s champion in the history of the game. 

She's Russian. She's blond. She's beautiful. So immediately, Maria Sharapova was compared to Anna Kournikova. She may not only be arguably better looking than Anna, there is no question that she is a better tennis player than Anna ever was. Maria established herself as one of the elite talents in women's tennis and as an international marketing sensation. 

Maria plays without fear, and has a sixth sense for competition. She's not the type of person to choke when things start going wrong - she has shown amazing mental toughness and self-belief so far in her career. Maria Sharapova ranked 63 among The Top 100 Celebrities In 2006. 

After her Wimbledon title, Maria—who vaulted into the Top 10, and surpassed $1 million in earnings for 2004—began the adjustment to life as a superstar. As Maria gains more experience and develops more strength and consistency, she may decide to alter her approach. But for now, her strategy suits her strokes, as witnessed by her humiliation of Serena Williams at Wimbledon.

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