Maria Sharapova was an iconic player who turned the WTA on its head when she reached the top. Being in the top 5, Sharapova developed many rivalries, with the most notable being her rivalry with Serena Williams. Sharapova has inspired a whole generation of tennis players. However, she never picked up tennis because of a player. 

Sharapova’s tennis journey began because of her father, and it came true because of Martina Navratilova. She gave a short message to her father, Yuri Sharapova, which gave him the motivation he needed to make sure his daughter became a great player.

Maria Sharapova reveals how tennis found her

The Siberian Siren appeared in the recent edition of the ‘Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard’ and talked about her career with the hosts. Sharapova also dived into how she came to play tennis. As per her, her father played a key role in her following tennis. He was a big fan and would often go to play the sport with his friends, with Sharapova accompanying them.

“It wasn’t that I had many other interests, and this just happened. Like to flourish it was, I just picked up a racket.” She further explained why she would often accompany her father on the tennis court. 

“My dad was a fan, and I’d show up on courts with him. My mom was very young when she had me, so she was still in university. So as she was studying, I’d go with my father. I never went to kindergarten. I was always around them, and I was an only child, so all their eyes were on me, and I was very well looked after.“

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Sharapova picked up the sport due to her father, and he was also one of the biggest reasons she flourished in it, with Martina Navratilova playing a key role in it. 

How a short message from Martina Navratilova kickstarted MaSha’s career

When she was 5, Sharapova went with her father to a clinic in Moscow. It was held for over 200 children, and Navratilova was also keeping an eye on the children. When she saw the young MaSha hit a few balls, she went up to Yuri to tell him, “Your kid is special“. He took her words seriously and soon managed to find a way to train her in the US. The two flew to the country, and their mother saw them two years later.

He worked several jobs when the two were in America so that his daughter could enroll in an academy. His efforts did not go to waste as his daughter would go on to win five grand slams and have her name written in tennis history. 

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