IN the 2000s, tennis legend Maria Sharapova dominated the women's game and was a marketer's dream. Her talent landed five Grand Slam titles , including triumphing at The Australian Open in 2008 aged just 21. On top of her game, Nike, Evian, Porsche and Tag Heuer offered the now 37-year-old huge sponsorship deals.
While glam cover photoshoots with fashion magazines made her the definitive face off the court. At the age of 32 she hung up her racket , after serving a 15-month drug ban. Although that may have tainted her playing career, since retirement she has become an extraordinary mentor for women business owners.
Her sweet company Sugarpova, which she invested around £400,000 11 years ago, is now worth a staggering £150million. Annually, it clears £16million. Here's her journey from world's sexiest tennis star to global business innovator.
Summer beach resort Sochi, found on the Black Sea, has become synonymous with the sporting world. It was famously home to the successful 2014 Winter Olympics. But it was also where a young Sharapova dreamed of tennis success.
She was just three when she moved there with her mother, Jelena and father, Yuri. By the age of four, the ambitious kid was already interested in playing tennis and was gifted a racket by Aleksandr Kafelnikov, whose son Yevgeny would go on to win two Grand Slam singles titles and become Russia's first world No1. She was given lessons by her first mentor, Yuri Yutkin until fate sent her to the US.
It was at a tennis.
