WATCH: Maria Sharapova stuns fans as she returns to the tennis court for the first time since pregnancy
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Maria Sharapova practising on the tennis court(Image: Screenshot taken from Twitter)
Retired tennis legend Maria Sharapova made her professional debut in 2001 at an age of 13. The 5-time Grand Slam champion ended her career of almost two decades in 2020 owing to her injuries. She has been one of the greatest players of all time and has played a crucial role in popularizing women’s tennis. The Russian legend hit the tennis court for the first time after becoming a mother for an intense workout session.
The former player is one of the most beautiful players and garnered numerous endorsements and brands. But encountered a setback when she faced suspension for two years from competitive tennis for failing a drug test for a banned substance. Later, the suspension reduced to fifteen months on the grounds of unknowingly taking the substance with no ill intentions.
This year has been quite important for her since she embraced motherhood for the first time. To remain fit and healthy, she keeps her fans updated about her fitness journey by sharing various workout session videos. But what left everyone surprised was when she shared about hitting the tennis court and enjoying herself to the fullest. She wore an all-black outfit with white Nike sneakers as she pulled off shots near the baseline.
She returned from suspension in 2017. But couldn’t play for long due to constantly getting injured on the Tour. She played her final Grand Slam match at 2020 Australian Open but got elimination in the first round. It marked her third consecutive first-round loss at a Grand Slam tournament. Soon, her ranking fell out of the Top 300 which was her lowest ranking since 2002.
Maria Sharapova wishes to achieve success in the world of Web3 technology and aims to empower women
In the past 11 consecutive years, she is the highest-paid female athlete and earned around $285 million including prize money since she turned pro in 2001. Maria Sharapova won 645 singles matches and lost 171 throughout her career. She also won 16 singles titles and earned a total of $38,777,962 prize money in her career. She is one of the few female players to have completed a calendar slam. Moreover, the 2-time French Open champion also earned an estimated $9.5 million per year from her various brand endorsements.
The former tennis player created history upon reaching the finals of the Australian Open in 2002. She has been the youngest ever to reach the Australian Open Junior Championship finals at 14 years and 9 months. Apart from being a tennis legend, she is also a successful businesswoman. She has developed an interest in the crypto world and NFTs after building Sugarpova from scratch. Maria Sharapova has been actively trying to adapt to the new technologies and concepts of social media, finance, cryptocurrency, and blockchain technology.
She even plans of including women in Web3 as she believes it could be a strong area for her to invest in the long term. The former US Open stated that she wants women to experiment with Web3 even though it is a very new concept. She cited examples to prove her point and compared the scenario that it will take time to get used to new technology just like she had felt when social media wasn’t that trending. She admitted that it took her years to get comfortable with social media.
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Prateek Pradhan
(601 Articles Published)