Maria Sharapova made a name for herself in the tennis world at age 16, when she won Wimbledon and that made her the highest-paid female athlete in the world for eleven years in a row. Since that moment this girl has shown that her passion and determination are the elements that allowed her to achieve everything that she has proposed.
Renowned brands and millions of people have also put their hope on the tennis player, watching her battle face-to-face with other tennis stars and coming out victorious. However after last year’s inconvenience due to her failure in a drug test, Sharapova was banned from playing for fifteen months but with so few days remaining of her suspension, this champion has spoken openly about her return.
Maria Sharapova’s journey.
During an interview with Vogue magazine, Maria Sharapova talked about her journey, after being suspended by the ITF, because she failed a drug test in January 2016. Meldonium, a drug that she had been taking for 10 years due to its magnesium deficiency and irregular EKGs, in addition to a history of diabetes in her family.
Devoting time for herself to really know places that she had already been to but had not been able to enjoy due to tennis and many other experiences of personal growth, were the main points of the interview.
A cloud of suspicion might linger around Sharapova’s tennis career.
The pitiful event unleashed many opinions and actions, one of the hardest reactions was when Maria’s sponsors – including Nike, Head, Porsche, Evian and NetJets -suspended their contracts after that press conference in March. However, things have been taking place and the tennis player has realized that she is not alone.
“Ever since all this happened, I’ve had so many strangers actually come up to me. Like chefs coming out of the kitchen, or pilots come out of the cockpit to say something. It is so heartening. I’ve had tunnel vision about my career, and I don’t think I ever realized the effect I’ve had on people. That has blown my mind,” Sharapova told Vogue interviewer.
The tennis circuit defines your schedule.
“And for a control freak, it felt so liberating to take things into my own hands,” those were the tennis star’s words while talking about her recent schedule. Sharapova focused her energy on her new product Sugarpova, which has suddenly taken off, partly because she’s been much more hands-on this year.
The tennis player also took the time to travel and to take courses in strategic brand management and leadership at Harvard Business School, and then she took some intense internships at the NBA, a London ad agency, and Nike. And like if that wasn’t enough she managed her time to write her own memoir which comes out in September, just after the U.S. Open.
Source: Vogue