Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (born April 19, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player of Belarusian descent and a former World No. 1. As of November 19, 2007, she is the fifth-ranked female player in the world. At the end of 2006, she was the world's highest-paid female athlete.

Sharapova has won two 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. She also reached the final at the 2007 Australian Open.

At 6'2", Sharapova is one of the tallest women currently in the women's game. Only Lindsay Davenport has been a taller Grand Slam champion in the 21st Century. Even on the men's side, only four Grand Slam champions in the 21st Century have eclipsed her height.

Sharapova has been labeled as an offensive 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. However, she is not known for being among the strongest of defensive players. She can lose precision on her groundstrokes 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 opponents. 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 has adopted a new service action with a shorter backswing. 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. It has been noted that in Madrid, her powerful serve and sharp game have returned to normal.

Sharapova is ambidextrous; although she almost always employs a right-handed forehand and double-handed backhand, she is known to occasionally hit a left-handed shot. She is also renowned for her on-court "grunting," reaching 101 decibels (the volume of a police siren) during a match at Wimbledon 2005.

2003: Early promise

Having turned professional in 2002, though playing just two WTA tournaments, Sharapova hit the Tour full-time in 2003. She qualified for both the Australian Open and French Open, though lost in the first round in both. Her first taste of real success came at Wimbledon; having been issued a wildcard, the 16-year-old blasted through to the fourth round, taking out 11th seed Jelena Dokic en route, but then lost a tight match to compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Sharapova then won her first title at the Tier III tournament in Tokyo, and followed this up by winning another Tier III tournament in Quebec City. She finished a very successful first full year on the tour ranked 32nd.

2004: Breakthrough season

Sharapova reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time at the 2004 French Open, where she lost to Paola Suarez. Immediately afterwards, she seized her third title at Birmingham, a grass-court Wimbledon warm-up event.

The 17-year-old Sharapova went into Wimbledon as the thirteenth seed, but tipped by some to perhaps cause some upsets. She made it to her second straight Grand Slam quarterfinal, where she defeated Ai Sugiyama 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, and then upset former world number one Lindsay Davenport 2-6, 7-6, 6-1 in the semifinals. She faced two-time defending champion Serena Williams in the final, with Williams the runaway favourite; however, Sharapova caused one of the biggest upsets in Wimbledon history by beating Williams 6-1, 6-4, to become the third-youngest Wimbledon women's champion (after Lottie Dod and Martina Hingis) and second-youngest in the open era, the first Russian to win that tournament and the lowest seed to win the women's event at that time (though Venus Williams would be seeded lower on her championship wins in 2005 and 2007).

At the U.S. Open a few months later, she lost to French player and two-time Grand Slam champion Mary Pierce in the third round. During the tournament, Sharapova and several other Russian women tennis players wore a black ribbon in observance of the tragedy after the Beslan school hostage crisis which took place only a few days before.

Sharapova continued her successful season by winning a title in Korea, defending her Tokyo title, and reaching her first Tier I final in Zurich. She ended 2004 with a victory at the season-ending WTA Championships, defeating an injured Serena Williams (4-6, 6-2, 6-4) after coming back from 0-4 in the final set. After losing to Sharapova in a semifinal of this event, Anastasia Myskina said: "He [Sharapova's father] was just yelling and screaming instructions to her and I thought he just might jump right on the court at one point in the match."

Sharapova finished 2004 ranked fourth in the world and the second-ranked Russian (behind Myskina). She won five titles during the year, trailing only Lindsay Davenport's seven, and equal to Justine Henin-Hardenne. She also topped the prizewinnings list for the women that season.

2005: Consistency

Sharapova started the year by reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open, where she lost to eventual champion Serena Williams 2-6, 7-5, 8-6, despite holding three match points in the match. In February, she won her first Tier 1 event in Tokyo, and followed this up with success in Doha.

After reaching the French Open quarterfinals for the second straight year (losing to eventual champion Justine Henin-Hardenne), Sharapova successfully defended her Birmingham title, defeating Jelena Janković in the final to extend her winning streak on grass to 19 matches. She then moved on to the task of defending her Wimbledon title where she reached the semifinals without losing a set, but then was well beaten by a rejuvenated Venus Williams, the eventual champion, 7-6, 6-1. Sharapova's streak on grass was ended, as was her quest to dethrone top-ranked Lindsay Davenport.

However, Davenport injured her back in the Wimbledon final, preventing her from defending the ranking points she obtained during the U.S. hard-court season of 2004. Sharapova had fewer points to defend and therefore rose to the No. 1 ranking on August 22, 2005, becoming the first Russian woman to hold the position. Her reign lasted only one week, however, as Davenport re-ascended to the top ranking after winning the title in New Haven.

Sharapova reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open, losing to eventual champion Kim Clijsters. This meant that she had lost to the eventual champion at all four Grand Slam events that year. Nevertheless, the points accumulated meant she once again leapfrogged Davenport to take the No. 1 ranking again on September 12, 2005. She kept the No. 1 ranking for six weeks before relinquishing it again to Davenport following the 2005 Zurich Open.

Sharapova failed to defend her title at the WTA Championships, losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Amelie Mauresmo, but she still finished the year ranked number four again, and as the top-ranked Russian for the first time. She won three titles during the year, and was the only player that year to make it to three Grand Slam semi-finals.

2006: A second major title

At the 2006 Australian Open, Sharapova lost in the semifinals to Justine Henin-Hardenne 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, the only match of the year that she lost after winning the first set.

Sharapova claimed her first title of 2006 and eleventh of her career at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, a Tier I event at which she was the third seed. Sharapova and No. 4 seed Elena Dementieva became the first Russians to reach the event's final, with Sharapova triumphing 6-1, 6-2. Soon after, Sharapova lost in the final of the Nasdaq-100 Open to Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-3. Had Sharapova won the match, she would have became only the third player (after Steffi Graf and Kim Clijsters) in history to win the Indian Wells-Miami double.

Sharapova participated at the 2006 French Open without having played any of the clay-court tune-ups. After saving three match points in the first round against Mashona Washington, Sharapova was eliminated in the fourth round by Dinara Safina 7-5, 2-6, 7-5, after Sharapova led 5-1 in the third set. Sharapova lost 18 of the match's last 21 points.

Sharapova welcomed the onset of the grass season but failed to add a third successive Birmingham title to her collection, losing in the semifinals to American Jamea Jackson.

For the second consecutive year, Sharapova was defeated in the semifinals of Wimbledon, losing to eventual winner Amélie Mauresmo 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Sharapova claimed her second title of 2006 as the second seed at the Acura Classic in San Diego, defeating top-seeded Kim Clijsters 7-5, 7-5. This was Sharapova's first victory over Clijsters in five meetings. Many believe that this win was the turnaround for this season.

Sharapova played at Los Angeles, but lost to Elena Dementieva in the semifinals. It was her only summer hardcourt loss that year.

Sharapova entered the 2006 U.S. Open seeded third after Clijsters dropped out of the tournament with a wrist injury. Favoured to reach the final, she defeated Mauresmo, the top-ranked player in the world, in a semifinal 6-0, 4-6, 6-0. Sharapova then prevailed over second-ranked Henin-Hardenne in the final 6-4, 6-4 to win her second Grand Slam title. She joined the list of eight players who had beaten the Top 2 players in the world to win a Grand Slam.

Sharapova won the Zurich Open, defeating Daniela Hantuchová 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in the final. Sharapova then won the Generali Ladies Linz, defeating fellow Russian and defending champion Nadia Petrova 7-5, 6-2, to take her fifth title of 2006 and the 15th title of her career.

Until her loss in the semifinals of the WTA Tour Championships to Justine Henin, Sharapova had won 19 consecutive matches. She finished the year at number two and, for the second year, as the Russian number one. During the year, she compiled a 59-9 record and won five titles (second only to Henin's six), including three Tier I titles, more than any other player that season.

2007: A Rollercoaster

To start 2007, Sharapova reached the final of the Watson Water Champions Challenge, an exhibition tournament, where she was defeated by Kim Clijsters 6-3, 7-6(8). She went into the Australian Open as the top seed due to world number one Justine Henin's withdrawal. Sharapova defeated the 62nd-ranked Camille Pin in the first round 6-3, 4-6, 9-7 on her fourth match point in air temperatures that exceeded 40 °C (104 °F) and on-court temperatures that exceeded 50 °C (122 °F). After defeating, amongst others, compratriots Vera Zvonareva and Anna Chakvetadze, she defeated fourth-seeded Clijsters 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals to reach her first Australian Open final and gain the opportunity to win the only Grand Slam singles title that a Russian woman had not yet won. However, Serena Williams, ranked No. 81 in the world, overpowered an injured Sharapova 6-1, 6-2, though her final run allowed her to re-capture the World No. 1 spot.

Sharapova then achieved disappointing results at her next three tournaments, partly due to hamstring and shoulder injuries, which decimated the effectiveness of her serve. At the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan where she was a champion in 2005, she retired to Ana Ivanović when trailing 6-1 0-1 in the semifinals. At the Pacific Life Open, as the defending champion, she lost to Vera Zvonareva in the fourth round with a score of 4-6 7-5 6-1 after leading 5-4 in the second set. This loss saw her lose the No 1 spot after seven straight weeks. In the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, where she had been a finalist the past two years, she was crushed by Serena Williams for the second successive time with a lopsided scoreline of 6-1 6-1. In the previous round Sharapova had beaten a resurgent Venus Williams 2-6 6-2 7-5.

Sharapova would be forced to miss most the clay court season for the second consecutive year because of the aforementioned injuries. She made her clay season debut at the Istanbul Cup, where she lost to Frenchwoman Aravane Rezaï in the semifinals 6-2, 6-4, in preparation for the French Open. She then reached the semifinals of the French Open for the first time in her career (saving a match point against Patty Schnyder and defeating Chakvetadze en route), but fell to up-and-comer Ana Ivanović 6-2, 6-1.

At the DFS Classic in Birmingham, United Kingdom, Sharapova lost in the final to second seeded Jelena Janković 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. Her record at the Tier III grass court event was extended to 23-3 with two titles in 5 tries. Sharapova then moved on to Wimbledon but fell victim to Venus Williams, who would go on to win the Championships, in the fourth round 6-1, 6-3.

Sharapova's first summer hardcourt tournament was the Acura Classic in San Diego, California, where she was the defending champion. She progressed to the final relatively easily, showing few of the serving problems that had dogged her all year. In the final, she faced #11 seed Patty Schnyder and won 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, claiming her first title of the year, 5th Tier I title, and the 16th singles title of her career. She then moved on to the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles, California, where she set up a semifinal encounter against fellow Russian Nadia Petrova, but withdrew briefly before the match with a shin injury. Nevertheless, she clinched the US Open Series for the first time.

Seeded second at the 2007 US Open, Sharapova was placed in the more favourable bottom half of the draw, and was tipped to at least reach the final. She raced through her first two matches, but then lost her third round match to 18-year-old Pole Agnieszka Radwańska 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, partly due to poor serving and a host of unforced errors. It was Sharapova's earliest exit at a Slam since she lost in the same round at the U.S. Open three years ago. Sharapova didn't play again until the Kremlin Cup in Moscow in October, where she crashed out to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the second round, 7-6(9), 6-2 (after a first-round bye). The recurring shoulder problem then forced Sharapova to withdraw from events in Zurich and Linz, at both of which, she was the defending champion.

Sharapova was granted qualification to the 2007 WTA Tour Championships only by virtue of Venus Williams's withdrawal, as Sharapova was ranked only #9 on the Race rankings going into the event. Playing only her second match in two months, Sharapova beat Daniela Hantuchová 6-4, 7-5 in her first round-robin match, before coming from a set down to defeat Svetlana Kuznetsova 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 to ensure a place in the semifinals. In her third and final round robin match, Sharapova gained revenge against Ana Ivanović 6-1, 6-2 in just over an hour, meaning she topped her group. Sharapova then defeated Anna Chakvetadze 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals to advance to the championship match. She then lost to top-ranked Henin 5-7 7-5 6-3 in a dramatic match that lasted 3 hours and 24 minutes: the 12th longest tour match in the Open Era. Her performance at the tournament was considered an excellent end to a modest season for Sharapova.

Sharapova ended the year as number 5 on the official WTA tour rankings, her fourth year in a row with a top 5 finish. However, for the first time since 2004, she did not finish the year as the number one Russian; that was Svetlana Kuznetsova, who was ranked world number two. She also won just one title (at San Diego), the first time she had failed to win at least two since 2002 (when she played just three WTA matches).

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