All About Top Stars

Maria Sharapova was born on April 19, 1987, in Nyagan, a town in the Siberian region of Russia. In 1989, the family moved to the Black Sea resort town of Sochi.

When she was 4 years old, a chance encounter changed her life. She met with the father of tennis champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov, and the man gave her a racket. From that moment, she started hitting tennis balls, and the game soon became a passion for her.

Two years later, she was performing at a tennis clinic when another tennis champion changed her life: Martina Navratilova was in the building and she was flabbergasted by the talent of the 6-year-old. She went to her father, Yuri, and recommended that he take his daughter to the world-famous Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. An only suckling, Maria Sharapova was heartened by her parents to try everything, from dancing and music to sports competitions. She discovered tennis after her fourth anniversary, when a family associate - Kafelnikov,s pastor gave her one of his son's old Dunlop. The die was cast. Maria by a hair's breadth ever let that cut-down, cracked, out of her hand from the trice she handpicked it up. Every day she hit against the side of the household. By the time Maria Sharapova was six; local tennis coaches refreshed Yuri to take her to Moscow to be considered for the Russian Tennis Federation. There, she wowed RTF head trainer Yuri Udkin, who felt she was the best player he had ever seen.

But effects were not so down-to-earth in Russia, where the old upheaval Synonyms was varying. The Russian government had increased its tennis development series after the sport had gained Olympic reputation Synonyms in the premature Antonym 1980s. But even still sufficient funding was unavailable, Maria's parents followed the recommendation of Martina Navratilova, who believed that the U.S. be the best place for the youngster to entertain her training. The Sharapova had met Navratilova during an show in Moscow. The star was pleased to bid her assistance.