Maria Sharapova

Maria began hitting tennis balls at the age of four. At the age of six, she participated in an exhibition in Moscow which featured Martina Navratilova. At the age of nine, she began training at Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy. During her first two years at the Academy, she was separated from her mother Yelena due to visa restrictions and finances. Maria would travel to tournaments with her father, Yuri, and coaches Robert Lansdorp, and 1984 Australian Open boys' doubles champion Mike Baroch. Yuri eventually replaced Baroch and Lansdorp with former ATP Top 100 player Michael Joyce, who guided Maria to 3 Grand Slam titles and the World #1 ranking (Lansdorp was quoted as saying in 2004: "I've never received anything from one player. Not even a $500 gift. They're all multi-millionaires but I've never received one thing. And I'm telling you, if Maria doesn't put a Mercedes convertible in my driveway, I'm going to shoot myself". Sharapova attended Lansdorp's 75th birthday party in 2013). Off-court, her interests include modeling, singing, jazz dancing, movies such as Pearl Harbor (2001), and reading.