Maria Sharapova

Maria Sharapova is a Russian professional tennis player

Maria Sharapova (born April 19, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player. A United States resident since 1994,[3] 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 won silver in women's singles at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Sharapova began her 2018 season at the Shenzhen Open. She defeated Mihaela Buzarnescu, Alison Riske and Zarina Diyas to advance to the semifinals, where she fell to defending champion Katerina Siniakova. Sharapova then returned to the Australian Open for the first time since her suspension, defeating Tatjana Maria and Anastasija Sevastova in the opening two rounds, before losing to Angelique Kerber in straight sets in the third round. Sharapova received a wildcard to enter the Qatar Open, losing in three sets to Monica Niculescu in the opening round. Sharapova pulled out of the Dubai Tennis Championships due to citing a forearm strain. Sharapova played the Indian Wells Open falling in the opening round to Naomi Osaka in straight sets. Sharapova was set to play the Miami Open but withdrew due to a forearm injury.

Sharapova is an aggressive baseliner with power, depth, and angles on her forehand and backhand. She is one of the few players on the WTA tour who often use the reverse forehand. Instead of using a traditional volley or overhead smash, she prefers to hit a powerful "swinging" volley when approaching the net or attacking lobs. Sharapova is thought to have good speed around the court, especially considering her height.

harapova briefly dated television producer Charlie Ebersol in 2008. In 2011, she was engaged to Slovenian professional basketball player Sasha Vujačić,with whom she had been in a relationship since 2009.[260] On August 31, 2012, Sharapova confirmed that the pair had ended the engagement and separated earlier that year. In 2013, she began dating Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov. Sharapova and Dimitrov ended the relationship in July 2015. Sharapova began dating Paddle8 president and co-founder Alexander Gilkes in January 2018