© Sara Quinnett
Please see the comments below for more information about this story.
Maria Sharapova was convinced a town in Vietnam needed a tennis center after watching the residents try to play tennis, although they could not afford to purchase balls.
Trouble is, the townspeople were not attempting to play tennis. They were merely trying to catch mosquitos.
A misleading joke by her interpreter reportedly led Sharapova to believe that a town in Southern Vietnam was so impoverished that they could not afford balls, according to Russia’s Kommersant.
“Maria was surprised by the absence of balls and asked the interpreter,” wrote the paper on Thursday.
“But the interpreter didn’t explain that she saw not the tennis rackets but special catching rackets against mosquitoes. The answer was that the locals were too poor to afford the balls. A month later, the Tennis Federation of Vietnam received a letter from Sharapova that spelled out her project for launching a tennis training center there.”
Sharapova’s letter to Vietnam’s tennis association has reportedly gone unanswered.
Maria deserves to be commended for her desire to help the impoverished nation of Vietnam, and although it turned out that she was the victim of a joke, the people would still benefit from having additional tennis facilities.
Interesting. This story has been going around. I wonder if it is factual.
Good question. I first saw it on a Vietnam website, then the Kommersant picked up on it.
I did stress that this “reportedly” happened, but given the many partially true stories floating around the net already this season, who knows?
Radek Stepanek and Nicole Vaidisova’s marriage license application was another bad joke, but it did pan out to have a bit of credence.
Yeah. The more I think about it though . . . nah not buyin’ it. %^)
Well, I’m taking my parents back to Vietnam to visit their siblings, maybe I’ll get to see Maria! :-P Lots of mosquitos back there for sure.
Comment edited
I will give credit where it is due at least Maria can see a bigger picture outside of tennis and was willing to try and help.
Ah, I miss those electric shock racquets. When I lived in Taiwan I’d be swatting mosquitos with those like a Venus Williams first serve.
As for Maria, this makes her even more adorable.
Vicki and Pov,
I’ve edited both of your comments. Pov, thank you for bringing the matter to my attention; my apologies for not editing it sooner. However, I don’t believe Vicki was intending to sound bigoted by referring to Maria’s hair color. But it is never appropriate to stereotype an individual based on their physical features.
Aaress,
Thanks for taking care of that. Can you just delete my post entirely since it now has no context.
Back to the story. A Vietnamese poster in another forum has cleared it up:
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To all, Maria has never been to VN. This was a joke created by TuoiTre newspaper to criticize the bad living condition in the country (the kids use electric paddle to kill mosquitoes and they look like playing tennis with no balls. Sharapova saw that and suggested the idea of a tennis academy). Somehow another VN newspaper believe in the story and quote it as a serious one. But I don’t know how UPI catch the news and spread it all over the world.
Here is the link if you can read Vietnamese.
http://www3.tuoitre.com.vn/thethao/Index.aspx?ArticleID=244452&ChannelID=14
That’s how the story was spread:
After Vietnam Tuoitre (Youth) Newspaper create the Sharapova joke, an English version of Vietnamnet translate it to English:
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/sports/2008/02/769551/ (deleted)
Sharapova’s plans to open tennis center in Vietnam
16:53′ 20/02/2008 (GMT+7)
http://www.tinthethao.com.vn/data/Image/2006/11/04/Sharapova.jpg2.jpg
VietNamNet Bridge – In early 2007, Sharapova, the famed Russian tennis beauty quietly visited Vietnam. She asked her driver to avoid major streets, lest she be noticed.
On the way to Lai Thieu in southern Vietnam, known for its orchards, the driver wound Sharapova around on a back country road. She was surprised at seeing many people playing tennis but couldn’t understand why they were playing without a ball. She asked the interpreter, whose face turned red and said “they love tennis but they are poor and can’t buy balls”.
One month later, the Vietnam Tennis Federation received a thick file labeled “Plans to establish the Sharapova Bangky tennis training center.”
The federation’s officials were surprised and met with the interpreter. He laughed and said: “The day we drove across Bang Ky bride. She saw many people holding mosquito-catching racquets. I explained to her that they were playing tennis; it was then she thought of establishing a tennis training center named after her and the Bang Ky bridge.”
Early this year, Sharapova sent her assistant to Vietnam to learn why Vietnamese agencies hadn’t responded to her.
And then UPI quickly catched it here (http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Sports/2008/02/21/sharapova_plans_tennis_center_in_vietnam/5215)
LAI THIEU , Vietnam, Feb. 21 (UPI) — Maria Sharapova, fifth in the latest world women’s tennis rankings, announced plans to open a tennis center in southern Vietnam.
In a release, Sharapova said she got the idea after an undisclosed trip to Lai Thieu early last year where she said she saw many people playing tennis but couldn’t understand why they were playing without a ball while using mosquito-catching rackets.
“They love tennis but they are poor and can’t buy balls,” Sharapova was told by an interpeter.
Later, she sent a letter to the Vietnam Tennis Federation saying that she would build the Sharapova Bangky tennis training center.
Earlier this week, she also became Sony Ericsson Mobile Communication’s first global ambassador after signing a six-year. $88 million agreement with the company’s design team to produce a range of products and accessories for the women’s tennis tour, which is sponsored by Sony Ericcson.
This story isnt factual. Maria never did any of this, she has never even been to Vietnam.