Maria - An Inspiration to young Russian Tennis Players
Posted by Aaress Lawless on Sep 28, 2005 | Print | Email | Bookmark | Free Subscription
Maria Sharapova’s rags-to-riches tale is inspirational enough that I would not be surprised if a movie studio eventually bought the rights to produce a motion picture about the young tennis star. We all have heard the story of how Yuri Sharapov came over to the United States from Siberia, with only the money in his pocket, and one goal—that his daughter would become the best tennis player in the world. I am sure many people laughed and called it a pipe-dream. But for him, it was soon to cease being a dream and become a reality. Now, only four years since her ITF debut, Maria Sharapova is not only the highest paid female athlete in the world, but the number #1 ranked tennis player in the world. Her story continues to inspire not only us fans, but the young women of her homeland, Russia.
MOSCOW (AFP) - Glamour girl Maria Sharapova’s meteoric rise to world
number one is inspiring a new generation of Russian teenage girls to
head for the courts hoping to emulate her sporting and financial
success.
"The phone has been ringing around the clock for registrations since
mid-August," says Igor Volkov, a coach at Moscow’s famous Spartak
tennis academy.
The academy now has 190 places compared to around 30 in 1994 but, since
Sharapova became the first Russian woman to top the WTA world rankings
last month, they’ve had to turn eager teenagers away.
"I would like to become as good as her and earn as much money as her," said 15-year-old Yuliya Livotova.
Sharapova, the blonde tennis star with the top model looks, won Wimbledon last year aged just 17. Since then her advertising contracts have netted her over 18 million
dollars (14.7 million euros) and by many accounts she has become the
biggest earner in women’s sport.
Read the rest of the story at Yahoo! News
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