All about - Maria sharapova

All About Maria Sharapova Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player who as of July 7, 2014 is ranked world No 6 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is the top Russian player A United States resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 32 WTA singles titles, including five Grand Slam singles titles She has also won the year-end WTA Tour Championships in 2004 The WTA has ranked Sharapova world No 1 in singles on five separate occasions, for a total of 21 weeks She became the world No 1 for the first time on August 22, 2005, and last held the ranking for the fifth time for four weeks from June 11, 2012 to July 8, 2012 She has been in nine Grand Slam finals with a record with her most recent grand slam coming at the 2014 French Open where she won her second French Open title and fifth grand slam title overall. Sharapova made her professional breakthrough in 2004 at age 17, when she defeated two-time defending champion and top seed Serena Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final for her first Grand Slam singles title She entered the top 10 of the WTA Rankings with the win The world No 1 ranking followed in 2005, along with subsequent major titles at the 2006 US Open, 2008 Australian Open, 2012 French Open and 2014 French Open. By winning the 2012 French Open, she became the sixth woman in the Open Era to complete the career Grand Slam in singles In the same year, she won an Olympic silver medal in the London 2012 Olympics Also, by winning her second French Open title at the 2014 French Open, she became only the 12th woman in the Open Era to win 5 or more grand slam singles titles, and she is now tied with Martina Hingis with 5 grand slam singles titles in the Open Era. Sharapova has been forced out of the game twice due to shoulder injuries In late 2008, she was forced out of the game until May 2009 due to shoulder injuries, and rebounded by winning the 2012 French Open, and again in mid 2013, her shoulder flared up once and she was forced out of the game until early 2014 She once again rebounded by winning the 2014 French Open. Sharapova has been featured in a number of modeling assignments, including a feature in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue She has been featured in many advertisements, including for Nike, Prince, and Canon, and is the face of several fashion houses, most notably Cole Haan Since February 2007, she has been a United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador, concerned specifically with the Chernobyl Recovery and Development Programme In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time, and in March 2012 was named one of the "100 Greatest of All Time" by Tennis Channel.