Maria Sharapova has had an impeccable tennis career. In just her second appearance at the Wimbledon Championships, Sharapova defeated her on-court rival, Serena Williams, to win her maiden Grand Slam title. It was just the beginning of an illustrious career for the Russian. Since then, she has added another four major titles to her kitty. Additionally, she has also gone on to achieve the top spot in the WTA rankings.

Apart from her on-court success, Sharapova has dived into the fashion world and has become a successful businessperson. She once described following a principle that helped her remain calm under pressure.

Maria Sharapova follows the Yin and Yang principle

While talking about her love for furniture during an interview, the 35-year-old opened up about following the Yin and Yang principle. She said, “I love design, I love design because I don’t like many things and I think the toughest things to design are the simple things because it needs to serve many different purposes.”

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Further, she added, “So I’ve always had this Yin and Yang, a Japanese philosophy of being calm and having a space that inspires you not through having so many items but through having things around you that are beautiful to feel and touch and to work with and to look at. So I try to apply my, I guess, my knowledge of fashion and working with Nikes and Tiffany and with Frank Gehry as well for a few years.”   

Sharapova absent from the centenary celebrations of the Wimbledon Centre Court

At this year’s Wimbledon Championships, the tournament honored former champions during the centenary celebrations of Wimbledon’s Centre Court. The likes of Roger Federer and Venus Williams graced the celebrations. However, a notable absentee was the 2004 Wimbledon champion, Maria Sharapova.

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Subsequently, the Wimbledon chiefs denied that Sharapova‘s absence was due to her Russian roots. Russian and Belarusian players were banned from this year’s Wimbledon Championships owing to the Eastern European conflict. As a result, the ATP and the WTA decided to strip the tournament of ranking points.