New names and talents appear in the world of sports every year. Among athletes, the competition is no less than among actors and singers. Success here will truly be achieved by the most hardworking, who will not break under the pressure of difficulties and harsh conditions.
Maria Sharapova knows firsthand about competition and the difficulties of an athlete's life. She came to the sport at a fairly young age and was able to fully experience what it was like to move up to fame and good results. The girl first picked up a racket at the age of five.
They say that it was a gift from Yevgeny Kafelnikov himself, who was friends with her father. Within a few years, Maria felt confident on the court and showed good results. Maria, recalling the beginning of her career, says that she was very lucky to have a father who took her daughter’s passion for tennis seriously. The girl's father was not afraid to leave his native country and move his family to America so that his daughter could study at the best sports school.
The tennis school happily welcomed a talented athlete from Russia. But they didn’t promise that it would be easy. Hours of training, demanding trainers and not a minute of free time. This is exactly what Maria Sharapova's life was like. The girl was not even 15 years old at that time.
But this training regimen gave a positive result. Sharapova made her debut in an adult tennis tournament when she turned 14 years old. The debut could hardly be called successful. Maria lost in the first round. But this encouraged her to train even more. Already at the next tournament, the athlete played on equal terms with the best tennis players in the world.
During her career, Maria Sharapova has won every award in tennis. But her achievements were not limited to sports. She released her own clothing line, and also fulfilled her childhood dream and began producing sweets.
Maria has graced the covers of fashion magazines more than once and participated in fashion shows. The girl was offered to work as a model, but so far she was limited to single participation in shows or filming. Sharapova achieved a lot, but not the most important thing. She has not yet met her loved one with whom she would share her victories.
Beautiful and independent
Maria Sharapova is not only a famous athlete, but also a very beautiful woman. She never lacked attention from men. However, her independence and habit of relying only on her own strengths prevent her from finding happiness. It is difficult for such an independent woman to find a worthy man who would be on an equal footing with her and would not limit her freedom.
Of course, Maria Sharapova had many high-profile romances in her personal life. But most of them ended in scandals. Most of her lovers wanted to become popular through these relationships.
The athlete suffered her first defeat in her personal life with tennis player Juan Carlos Ferrero. It was unrequited love that tormented the girl. Maria's close friends said that she could not sleep at night or eat normally. She often cried at night, suffering from unrequited love. When Sharapova's lover announced his intention to marry another girl, she completely fell into depression.
The next failure awaited Maria in her relationship with the lead singer of Maroon 5, Adam Levine . He needed a relationship with a girl to increase his own popularity. They often appeared together at various events. With each such exit, Maria realized that she was being used. She didn’t want to tolerate this and broke off all relations with Adam.
Biography
It is unlikely that the biography of British businessman Alexander Gilkes would have interested the Russian public if not for his affair with tennis player Maria Sharapova, to whom the people have always been partial. They wanted to marry her off for a long time, but it never worked out, but it looks like now is the time. Masha announced the end of her sports career, and she found an enviable groom: smart, rich, well-mannered Alexander achieved success in business and is close to the British royal family.
A moment away from the wedding
Fans of the athlete watched with bated breath the development of relations with Sasha Vujanic. It was this handsome football player who proposed to Maria in 2010. Sharapova met him completely by accident. At the time they met, she was in a relationship with Charlie Ebersol. The novel was promising, but extremely boring. One day Sharapova found herself in the company of Charlie and his friend. This friend turned out to be Vujanic.
Literally the next day after meeting Sasha, the girl broke up with her fiancé . She said that she finally fell in love for real. It was love at first sight. The feelings were reciprocated and it was getting closer to the wedding.
Sasha proposed to his beloved beautifully and romantically, just like in a movie. The guy got down on one knee in front of Maria and opened the treasured box. There was a diamond ring there that was worth several hundred dollars. Maria was in seventh heaven. She accepted the offer and began to prepare for the wedding.
But, for unknown reasons, the celebration did not take place. Even many years later, the former lovers did not tell what caused their separation. Maria and Sasha separated without scandals and were able to maintain friendly relations.
Big sport. Career blossoming
In 2003, the tennis player managed to pass the qualifying games and appeared in adult competitions for the first time. In Australia and France, her desire to overcome even the first round was not crowned with success. However, on the grass courts of the competition in Birmingham, she was lucky to reach the semi-finals. This circumstance allowed the young Russian woman to get into the Top 100 professional women.
Maria Sharapova in her youth
During the same period in Tokyo, the athlete managed to defend two Women's Tennis Association (WTA) trophies, defeating Aniko Kapros from Hungary in the single final battle and achieving leadership in the doubles (together with the Thai athlete Tamarin Tanasugarn). Thus, the aspiring tennis player entered the list of fifty leading players with 32nd place and earned the WTA Association award in the “Rookie of the Year” category.
The year 2004 is known as a turning point in the fate of the Russian tennis player. After a series of successful performances, she conquered Wimbledon, a tournament considered the highest goal for tennis players and one of the four largest Grand Slam tournaments. Despite the fact that the girl entered the court with a sore throat, she managed to beat the reigning two-time champion Serena Williams from the USA, who remained her main rival over the next few years.
In 2004, Maria Sharapova made her debut at Wimbledon
After her triumph at Wimbledon, Sharapova signed a contract with mobile phone manufacturer Motorola for one and a half million dollars a year. In 2004, the girl became the highest paid sports star and held this title for 11 years in a row. Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams in the final of Wimbledon 2004 Among the successful performances of the tennis player of that period, one can also note the leadership in Tokyo and in the WTA Championship, where she was able to defeat Serena Williams for the second and last time. If in 2003 Masha was eighth in the women's report card, then a year later she became fourth
In 2005, Maria Sharapova defeated the “first racket of the world,” American Lindsay Davenport, at the final meeting in Tokyo, and was also declared the winner in the Qatar Open, defeating Australian Alicia Molik. During the same period, Sharapova suffered a fiasco in the Miami Masters final in a match with her Belgian colleague Kim Clijsters and in the Wimbledon semifinals in a match with Venus Williams (Serena’s older sister), and at the US Open she again failed to defeat Clijsters. Thus, having first become the leader of the ranking of tennis players in the summer, in the fall Masha lost her world leadership and found herself, as a year earlier, in 4th position among tennis stars.
Maria Sharapova in her youth
However, Maria continued to train and participate in competitions. In 2006, she pleased her fans with victories at the US Open match in Indian Wells. In addition, she managed to climb to second place in the leaderboard, beating No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo and No. 2 Justine Henin-Hardenne in her second Grand Slam match.
New relationships
In 2021, they started talking about a new relationship with Maria Sharapova. This time, the Russian athlete started an affair with millionaire Alexander Gilks. At the same time, lovers try not to advertise their relationship, but at the same time they do not hide it. They appear together at various events and relax together.
Alexander is the founder of the famous Paddle 8 auction. He received an excellent education at the University of Bristol. There he began to study Russian. After graduating from university, the guy decided to continue his studies at Eton College. While studying there, Alexander met Princes William and Harry, and also had a short affair with Pippa Middleton.
Meeting Maria Sharapova helped Gilkes recover from a difficult divorce from Misha Nonoo , with whom he had been together for more than 16 years.
Now Alexander is trying to spend all his free time with Maria. It accompanies her to tournaments and supports her in everything. At this time, fans of the athlete hope that Alexander will turn out to be exactly the man who will conquer the Russian beauty.
Who is Gilks?
Alexander was born into a poor but wealthy British family. The millionaire's father is one of the best dermatologists in the UK, and his mother teaches at Oxford University. After his studies, Gilkes worked for some time in the French representative office, and then moved to New York. There, the young man acquired a share in the auction house. From 2011 to 2021, Alexander headed the online auction Paddle8, which sold collectibles and works of art. In 2021, the man became a co-founder of Squared Circles, a well-known venture studio.
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Final sports career
In 2021, the Russian woman returned to tennis, competing at a tournament in Stuttgart, where she was one step away from victory and suffered an unfortunate defeat in the semi-final match with Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic.
Subsequently, she failed to achieve her former positions in the world rankings. Luck smiled only once that year - not in the most prestigious Tianjin Open (China), where, ironically, she beat the Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka. She finished the season in 57th place in the Women's Tennis Association rankings, where she was again included. Then Maria fought for victory in Shenzhen 2018, China, where she reached the semi-finals, but lost to Czech tennis player Katerina Sinyakova. At the Australian Open, she won in two rounds, but in the third she lost devastatingly to the German athlete Angelique Kerber.
Subsequently, failures followed Maria both at the US Open and at Wimbledon, where she stopped playing due to a wrist injury, and at the Australian Open 2019, where in the first round her opponent on the court was Serena Williams, who predictably won.
Losing streak
At the beginning of 2007, the world sports star reached the final of the Australian championship, but lost to her main rival Serena Williams. This began a streak of failures for Maria - losses in Miami and Indian Wells and several more competitions on the verge of failure brought the tennis player down to fifth place in the world rankings. A year later, Sharapova rehabilitated herself and took the third Grand Slam major at the Australian Open without losing a single set.
Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams at the 2007 Australian Open
The year 2009 for Maria was marked by a shoulder injury. After undergoing surgery, she returned to the sport, but she needed to change her serving technique, a key point in the game. The athlete lost the first tournaments “in the new style”, but at the end of the season she again took a prize in Tokyo - fighting until the last point, Sharapova moved to 14th place in the ranking.
Sharapova injured her shoulder in 2009
Maria Sharapova latest news for today
Maria Sharapova's latest news today is quite scandalous. They tell that Maria personally admitted that she took doping. If you look closer, the athlete was taking medications, which included a certain Meldonium. Previously, it is worth noting that he was not included in the list of doping agents. But quite recently the opinion of experts has changed and they have made their own amendments to this list. Maria sadly admitted that she has been taking Meldonium for about a decade, and she has not yet received news about the amendments.
Due to this small scandal, Sharapova was suspended from competition for a couple of years, however, she managed to reduce this period by nine months. And now, as of this April, she is already back on the court. During the sports break, the woman lived a full life, participated in photo shoots, and so on. By the way, Maria was even able to fulfill her childhood dream - the athlete released her personal line of sweets and chocolate. Currently, they can only be bought in St. Petersburg and Moscow, but Sharapova promises that they will soon appear in other Russian cities.
