After the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 in the former USSR, Yuri and Yelena, ethnic Russians, were compelled to move from Gomel, Belarus, to the town of Nyagan in Siberia, Russia, to live with Yelena's father. At the time, no one even imagined that they would become the parents of the world's biggest female tennis sensation, Maria Sharapova.
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova was born on April 19, 1987. She is a professional tennis player who is also a former World No. 1. As of April 14, 2008, she is the fourth-ranked female player in the world. At the end of 2006, she was the world's highest-paid female athlete.
Sharapova started playing tennis at the age of four. Her father brought her to the United States when she was seven years old, to attend the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida. Her mother, Yelena, could not come with them because of visa restrictions, but followed two years later. Sharapova has lived in the United States since then, but retains her Russian citizenship. She has a home in Manhattan Beach, California.

Sharapova has won three Grand Slam singles titles. In 2004, she beat Serena Williams to take the Wimbledon title at the age of 17. Two years later, she defeated Justine Henin in the final of the 2006 U.S. Open. At the 2008 Australian Open, she beat Henin again.

Sharapova has been labeled as a power baseliner by tennis critics and fans. She is noted for having an excellent double-handed backhand and serves, particularly for the power and placement of these shots. She is also noted for having a good forehand. Likewise, critics claim that for her height, Sharapova has decent agility on-court. Being an offensive player, Sharapova is usually able to overpower her opponents or keep them on the run with sharp angles from the baseline. Because of this aggressive play, she excels on the fast-playing grass and hard courts, but is not as dangerous on clay. This is because she is not among the strongest of defensive players. She can lose precision on her ground strokes when she is put on the run herself, a weakness that the best all-around players will exploit.
Sharapova is also not a natural volleyer. Instead, she typically uses a powerful "swinging" volley for net approaches. Sharapova usually serves for placement, but uses enough power on her first and second serve that attacking that stroke is very difficult for her opponent. She has been trying to develop her "all-power" game, while also adding in slice, drop shots and drop volleys.
Due to shoulder injuries, Sharapova adopted a new service action with a shorter backswing after Wimbledon 2007. Her first and second serve became less effective during the majority of the 2007 season. Previously, she had an elongated backswing to generate power on her serve. However, as a trade-off, the swing also placed incredible strain on her shoulder, leading to Sharapova's shoulder injury at the beginning of the 2007 season. With her shoulder injury apparently healed, Sharapova has since returned to her elongated service motion, and her serve has been more effective in 2008.

Sharapova is ambidextrous and played left-handed until she was ten years old, before deciding to play right-handed. Although she almost always employs a right-handed forehand and double-handed backhand, she has one of the most accurate double-handed backhand shots and is known to occasionally hit left-handed shots as a result of her early left-handed training. She has also been criticised for her on-court "grunting." At Wimbledon, the London tabloids' famous grunt-o-meter first used to measure the squeals of Monica Seles, has recorded Sharapova's noise level at 101.2 decibels - the equivalent, apparently, of a police siren at close range or a small aircraft landing nearby.

Sharapova has won every Grand Slam singles title except the French Open. She believes that winning the French Open will be a big challenge and has described her movement on clay as like a "cow on ice."

2004 Wimbledon final: defeated heavily-favored two-time defending champion Serena Williams 6-1, 6-4 to become the third youngest woman to win the title at the All England Club and the lowest seed (at the time) to do so.

2004 WTA Tour Championships final: defeated Serena Williams 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. Sharapova came back from a 4-0 deficit in the third set and won her first WTA Championships trophy.

2005 Australian Open semifinal: defeated by eventual champion Serena Williams 2-6, 7-5, 8-6. Sharapova led 6-2, 5-4 before Williams rallied to win the second set. In the third set, Sharapova again carved out a lead and even held three match points, but Williams battled back once again to win the match.

2005 U.S. Open semifinal: defeated by eventual champion Kim Clijsters 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3. Sharapova was down 5-2 in the second set and one game away from defeat but fought back to claim the set. Sharapova wound up saving five match points; however, Clijsters won the match on her sixth match point.

2006 Miami semifinal: defeated Tatiana Golovin 6-3, 6-7(5), 4-3 retired. Sharapova had match points at 6-3, 5-1 but could not convert. The third set was close until Golovin was forced to retire after dramatically twisting her ankle. Some criticized Sharapova for turning her back on Golovin, but a television replay showed Sharapova turning her back before the fall. Sharapova later explained that she thought Golovin had simply cramped. When the Frenchwoman retired and was leaving the court, Sharapova gave her a round of applause along with the crowd to show her appreciation.

2006 San Diego final: defeated Clijsters 7-5, 7-5. This was Sharapova's first victory over the Belgian and her first title in San Diego. After this match, Sharapova lost just two more matches during 2006 and claimed three additional titles, including the U.S. Open.

2006 U.S. Open semifinal: defeated Amélie Mauresmo, the World No. 1, 6-0, 4-6, 6-0. This was the first U.S. Open semifinal with two 6-0 sets.

2006 U.S. Open final: defeated Justine Henin 6-4, 6-4 to win her second Grand Slam title. Sharapova beat Henin for only the second time in her career. This was only the eighth time in history that a player beat the world's top two ranked players in a Grand Slam event.

2007 French Open fourth round: defeated Patty Schnyder 3-6, 6-4, 9-7. Sharapova came into the tournament with an injury and overcame two match points against her during this match.

2007 WTA Tour Championships final: defeated by Henin 5-7, 7-5, 6-3. World No. 1 Henin was the pre-match favorite, but Sharapova took the first set on her eighth set point and at one stage in the second set, was a mere five points from victory. The match lasted 3 hours, 24 minutes, making it the 12th longest women's match in the open era. It was widely agreed as the best women's match of 2007.

2008 Australian Open quarterfinal: defeated Henin 6-4, 6-0. Henin was the World No. 1, but Sharapova won her third victory in nine meetings with Henin. The win snapped Henin's 32-match winning streak and marked the first time Henin had suffered a "bagel" set since 2002. It also marked the first time since 2005 that Henin had lost in a Grand Slam tournament before the semifinals.