Sharapova was born in 1987 to Yury and Yelena, in the town of Nyagan in Siberia, Russia. Her parents moved from Gomel, Belarus, after the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 affected the region.[9] When Sharapova was two, the family moved to Sochi, where her father befriended Aleksandr Kafelnikov, whose son Yevgeny would go on to win two Grand Slam singles titles and became Russia's first ever World No. 1 tennis player. Aleksandr gave Sharapova her first tennis racket at the age of four, whereupon she began practicing regularly with her father at a local park.[10] She took her first tennis lessons with veteran Russian coach Yuri Yutkin, who was instantly impressed when he first saw her play, noting her "exceptional hand-eye co-ordination."[11]
At the age of seven, Sharapova attended a tennis clinic in Moscow run by Martina Navrátilová, who recommended professional training at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida, which had previously trained players such as Andre Agassi, Monica Seles and Anna Kournikova.[10] With money tight, Yuri was forced to borrow the sum that would allow him and his daughter, neither of whom could speak English, to travel to America, which they finally did in 1994.[11] Visa restrictions prevented Sharapova's mother from joining them for two years.[9] Arriving in Florida with savings of US$700,[11] Sharapova's father took various low-paying jobs, including dish-washing, to fund her lessons until she was old enough to be admitted to the academy. In 1995, she was signed by IMG, who agreed to pay the annual tuition fee of $35,000 for Sharapova to stay at the academy
Residence Bradenton, Florida, USA
Born April 19, 1987 (age 24)
Nyagan, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[1]
Turned pro April 19, 2001
Plays Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money
