Five-time Grand Slam champion, Maria Sharapova revealed the dark instances which her family experienced during the Chernobyl disaster. Sharapova’s mother was expecting with her when the disaster took place in 1986.

The tennis ace is grateful for her family and herself for not been affected adversely by the tragic calamity. She believes that they literally escaped the disaster. Also, Voices from Chernobyl, by Svetlana Alexievich is one of her preferred books. “The book is written with deep heartbreak, these stories keep my feet on the ground and remind me how fortunate my family was to have fled the disaster,” Maria Sharapova said.

World Number 135, Maria Sharapova has contributed immensely to various charities all around the globe, and she regularly contributes to Chernobyl disaster based charities. “My mother was pregnant with me when Chernobyl exploded 30 kilometers from where we lived. Many of my contributions have been toward families and regions affected by the disaster,” the Russian tennis icon said. Besides being a tennis professional, Maria Sharapova is also a successful entrepreneur.

The Maria Sharapova Foundation is committed to helping children around and earlier she donated $100,000 to Chernobyl-related projects. Also, her foundation was in partnership with the UNDP, and she launched a $210,000 scholarship program for students from Chernobyl-affected areas of Belarus.

This year after her injury hiatus in February, World Number 135, Sharapova came back to the WTA circuit for the grass-court tournament in Mallorca, Spain. Since then, she has managed to win two matches. One of them, against Viktoria Kuzmova in Mallorca and the other one against the American, Alison Riske in Cincinnati, USA.  Sharapova is yet to win a Grand Slam match since Australian Open 2019.

Next week, she will be playing at the Linz Open in Austria and was spotted training with the Italian, Jannik Sinner.