Maria Sharapova is one of the richest athletes in Russia and the world. Moreover, not only victories on the court bring her fantastic income, but also numerous advertising contracts. Nature generously endowed the girl with attractiveness and model proportions, so well-known companies willingly entrust Sharapova with the presentation of their products. True, in 2016, the tennis player's career was threatened due to a doping scandal. But she honorably overcame this crisis period, returning to the big sport and the field of view of advertisers.
Sports career
A brilliant game of tennis and victories on the court helped Sharapova in her early youth to declare herself to the whole world. Although Maria is considered a Russian athlete, she has been living in the United States since she was 7 years old. In 1994, the future star moved overseas with her father, who strongly supported her pursuit of a professional tennis career. Far from his homeland, Yuri Sharapov took on any low-skilled job in order to pay his daughter for expensive classes with private trainers.
Then Maria studied at the famous Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, where such stars as Andre Agassi, Serena Williams, Monica Seles, Jim Courier began their journey.
Having won several victories in junior competitions, in 2003 Sharapova made her debut in adult tennis. She performed well at Grand Slam tournaments, defeating several serious rivals. At the end of the season, the WTA tennis association even awarded Maria the title of "Rookie of the Year".
The following year, the name of the young athlete thundered all over the world when she won her first significant victory on the Wimbledon courts. In the final, Sharapova managed to surpass her formidable rival, Serena Williams. And at the end of the season, the girls met again at the final WTA tournament, where Maria triumphantly declared herself as the strongest tennis player on the planet.
Despite a bright start, her further sporting path was not smooth: a shoulder injury worsened regularly, victories were often replaced by defeats. Nevertheless, Sharapova has four more top titles in Grand Slam tournaments, not counting Wimbledon. In 2006 she won the US Open and two years later the Australian Open. But the French Open was submitted to Maria twice - in 2012 and 2014. In addition, in the list of her awards there is a silver medal in singles at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
In total, the Russian tennis player has over 40 career titles. And the amount of prize money received by Sharapova for victories on the court exceeds $ 38 million.
Advertising contracts
Athletic achievements quickly turned this slender blonde into a desirable target for advertisers. One of the first companies that drew attention to Sharapova back in 1998 was the sports corporation Nike. In 2010, their long-term partnership reached a new level when the tennis player signed an eight-year contract with the brand worth $ 70 million. Maria has a personalized collection of clothing, footwear and accessories, which is produced under the Nike Cole Haan brand. By the way, the most popular among buyers are ballet flats created by Sharapova, and her sportswear is worn by many eminent colleagues in tennis.
Also, the Russian beauty can be seen in an advertisement for Head, an Austrian manufacturer of sports equipment and outfit. However, Maria's model appearance allows her to easily represent a variety of products that are not related to professional activities. For example, in 2013 it entered into a three-year agreement with sports car manufacturer Porsche. Sharapova acted as the brand ambassador, and in this role she had a chance to visit more than once. At the beginning of her career, the athlete had a similar experience with the Land Rover brand.
In addition, the tennis star has repeatedly advertised high-tech products from such giants of this market as Motorola, Canon, Samsung. The world of fashion and beauty also accepted Maria favorably. She represented luxury goods from the Swiss manufacturer TAG Heuer, and the famous jewelry brand Tiffany & Co created personalized earrings in honor of the Russian woman. Sharapova also has a collaboration with Evian, a French mineral water company. She was the face of the Avon cosmetics brand, representing the American Express financial holding.
True, in 2016, her numerous advertising contracts were threatened due to a doping scandal associated with the use of banned meldonium. After Maria was suspended from tennis for 15 months, the cooperation of Avon, TAG Heuer, American Express was suspended with her. The rest of the sponsors decided not to turn away from the athlete at a difficult moment. In April 2017, Sharapova returned to professional tennis, but she has not yet managed to rise to the previous level of play.
Personal fortune and own business
Having earned a decent fortune, Maria tries her hand at business. In 2012, she founded her own confectionery brand, Sugarpova. Her company makes lollipops, candy, gummies, which are shaped like tennis balls, stars, colored stripes, and even lips. In total, the customer is offered nine different shapes and several flavors to choose from.
For the sake of promoting the business, the athlete even planned to temporarily change the name of Sharapov to Sugarpova. However, her management later abandoned this idea, as it would inevitably lead to a lot of legal procedures for which Maria simply does not have time to spare. Moreover, even without these tweaks, in the very first year of its existence, Sharapova's company sold more than 1.8 million packages of sweets around the world. In the wake of success, the aspiring businesswoman thought about expanding the brand. She planned to add the production of wallets, jewelry and accessories to the production of sweets.
Maria is a constant participant in the ratings of the richest athletes in the world. She is also one of the richest women in Russia. Although Sharapova, like most celebrities, does not disclose the total amount of her income, experts estimate her net worth at $ 140-190 million. These huge numbers are admirable. After all, Maria earned her fantastic wealth from scratch thanks to hard work, dedication, discipline and unbending will to win.
