Maria Sharapova Personal Life & Biography

Nickname(s) Masha
Country Russia
Residence Longboat Key, Florida, United States
Date of birth April 19, 1987 (1987-04-19) (age 22)
Place of birth Nyagan, Soviet Union
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight 59.1 kg (130 lb; 9.31 st)
Turned pro April 19, 2001
Retired No
Plays Right-handed; two-handed backhand
Career prize money US$12,186,381

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova was born April 19, 1987.She is a former World No. 1 Russian professional tennis player. She has won three Grand Slam singles titles. In 2004 at the age of 17, she won Wimbledon, defeating Serena Williams in the final.She has since won the 2006 US Open, defeating Justine Henin in the final and the 2008 Australian Open, defeating Ana Ivanovic in the final.Sharapova has represented Russia in Fed Cup, although her appearances have been controversial.

She has been featured in a number of modeling assignments, including a feature in Sports Illustrated. Sharapova was the most searched-for athlete on Yahoo! in both 2005 and 2008.In July 2008, as a result of her success both on and off court, she was the world's highest-paid female athlete.

Starting in 2007, Sharapova has been suffering from a right shoulder injury and has not played a professional singles match since August 2008. This caused her ranking to slip to World No. 126 on May 18, 2009.As of 25 May 2009, her ranking is World Number 102.