Descibe the journey of Maria Sharapova from a little Siberian girl to a legendary tennis player
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Born in Russia in 1987, Maria Sharapova moved to the U.S. at an early age and began training at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy. After turning professional at age 14, she burst into the spotlight by winning the 2004 Wimbledon women's singles title. Sharapova became the 10th woman to earn a career Grand Slam with her French Open win in 2012, and she added a second French crown in 2014. In 2016, she was suspended for two years by the International Tennis Federation following her positive test for a banned substance. After an appeal, her suspension was reduced to 15 months, allowing her to return to competition in April 2017.

Maria Sharapova
Net Worth
Sharapova has an estimated net worth of $135 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Tennis Career
Maria Sharapova claimed her first WTA victory at the 2003 AIG Japan Open and also reached the fourth round at Wimbledon on her first attempt during the same year. Success came in 2004 when she won the singles title there, becoming Russia's first female Wimbledon champion. At the end of 2004, she added a WTA Championships title to her list of achievements. She became the first Russian woman to ascend to the sport's top ranking in 2005, and the following year she claimed her second Grand Slam title with a win at the U.S. Open.
Sharapova was slowed by shoulder problems for much of 2007 and 2008, although she managed to win her third Grand Slam with a dominant showing at the 2008 Australian Open. She finally underwent shoulder surgery that October, and the resulting layoff forced her out of the Top 100 until her return to singles action in May 2009.
Sharapova struggled to regain her consistency against the premier women's players, but she was back in the Top 20 by the end of 2009, and finished 2011 ranked No. 4 in the world. In June 2012, Sharapova capped her comeback by defeating Sara Errani in the French Open final. The victory made her just the 10th woman to complete a career Grand Slam (wins at all four major tournaments), and allowed her to regain the world's No. 1 ranking.
At the 2012 Summer Olympic Games — Sharapova's Olympic debut — she won a silver medal in women's singles, losing the gold to American tennis star Serena Williams. The Russian continued to play well in subsequent majors, finishing runner-up at the 2013 French Open. However, shoulder problems again took a toll, and not long after a disappointing second-round loss at Wimbledon, she withdrew from action for the remainder of theseason.
Regaining momentum in 2014, Sharapova won her second French Open and fifth overall Grand Slam title by defeating Simona Halep. In 2015, she advanced to the Australian Open final and the semifinals of the U.S. Open, before finishing the year ranked No. 4.
Drug Controversy and Suspension
In March 2016, Sharapova announced that she had failed a drug test at the Australian Open in January. At a press conference, the tennis star said that she had tested positive for Mildronate, with an active ingredient of meldonium, which she had been taking for health issues since 2006. The drug was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) prohibited list on January 1, 2016.
"It's very important for you to understand that for 10 years this medicine was not on WADA's banned list and I had been legally taking the medicine for the past 10 years," Sharapova said at the press conference. "But on January 1 the rules had changed and meldonium became a prohibited substance, which I had not known."
“I have to take full responsibility for it,” she added. “It’s my body, and I’m responsible for what I put into it.”
On June 8, 2016, an independent tribunal appointed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) suspended Sharapova from playing for two years because of the failed drug test.
Sharapova responded in a Facebook post: "While the tribunal concluded correctly that I did not intentionally violate the anti-doping rules, I cannot accept an unfairly harsh two-year suspension. The tribunal, whose members were selected by the ITF, agreed that I did not do anything intentionally wrong, yet they seek to keep me from playing tennis for two years. I will immediately appeal the suspension portion of this ruling to CAS, the Court of Arbitration for Sport.”
In October 2016, after Sharapova appealed her two-year suspension, the Court of Arbitration for Sport announced that her punishment would be reduced by 15 months, allowing her to return to international competition in April 2017. “I’ve gone from one of the toughest days of my career to, now, one of the happiest days,” the tennis player said in a statement.
At the conclusion of her suspension, Sharapova returned to action at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on April 26, 2017. She won her first WTA title in two years at the Tianjin Open in October, and gradually battled her way back into the sport's Top 30 before the start of the French Open in May
Born in Russia in 1987, Maria Sharapova moved to the U.S. at an early age and began training at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy. After turning professional at age 14, she burst into the spotlight by winning the 2004 Wimbledon women's singles title. Sharapova became the 10th woman to earn a career Grand Slam with her French Open win in 2012, and she added a second French crown in 2014. In 2016, she was suspended for two years by the International Tennis Federation following her positive test for a banned substance. After an appeal, her suspension was reduced to 15 months, allowing her to return to competition in April 2017.

Maria Sharapova
Net Worth
Sharapova has an estimated net worth of $135 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Tennis Career
Maria Sharapova claimed her first WTA victory at the 2003 AIG Japan Open and also reached the fourth round at Wimbledon on her first attempt during the same year. Success came in 2004 when she won the singles title there, becoming Russia's first female Wimbledon champion. At the end of 2004, she added a WTA Championships title to her list of achievements. She became the first Russian woman to ascend to the sport's top ranking in 2005, and the following year she claimed her second Grand Slam title with a win at the U.S. Open.
Sharapova was slowed by shoulder problems for much of 2007 and 2008, although she managed to win her third Grand Slam with a dominant showing at the 2008 Australian Open. She finally underwent shoulder surgery that October, and the resulting layoff forced her out of the Top 100 until her return to singles action in May 2009.
Sharapova struggled to regain her consistency against the premier women's players, but she was back in the Top 20 by the end of 2009, and finished 2011 ranked No. 4 in the world. In June 2012, Sharapova capped her comeback by defeating Sara Errani in the French Open final. The victory made her just the 10th woman to complete a career Grand Slam (wins at all four major tournaments), and allowed her to regain the world's No. 1 ranking.
At the 2012 Summer Olympic Games — Sharapova's Olympic debut — she won a silver medal in women's singles, losing the gold to American tennis star Serena Williams. The Russian continued to play well in subsequent majors, finishing runner-up at the 2013 French Open. However, shoulder problems again took a toll, and not long after a disappointing second-round loss at Wimbledon, she withdrew from action for the remainder of theseason.
Regaining momentum in 2014, Sharapova won her second French Open and fifth overall Grand Slam title by defeating Simona Halep. In 2015, she advanced to the Australian Open final and the semifinals of the U.S. Open, before finishing the year ranked No. 4.
Drug Controversy and Suspension
In March 2016, Sharapova announced that she had failed a drug test at the Australian Open in January. At a press conference, the tennis star said that she had tested positive for Mildronate, with an active ingredient of meldonium, which she had been taking for health issues since 2006. The drug was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) prohibited list on January 1, 2016.
"It's very important for you to understand that for 10 years this medicine was not on WADA's banned list and I had been legally taking the medicine for the past 10 years," Sharapova said at the press conference. "But on January 1 the rules had changed and meldonium became a prohibited substance, which I had not known."
“I have to take full responsibility for it,” she added. “It’s my body, and I’m responsible for what I put into it.”
On June 8, 2016, an independent tribunal appointed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) suspended Sharapova from playing for two years because of the failed drug test.
Sharapova responded in a Facebook post: "While the tribunal concluded correctly that I did not intentionally violate the anti-doping rules, I cannot accept an unfairly harsh two-year suspension. The tribunal, whose members were selected by the ITF, agreed that I did not do anything intentionally wrong, yet they seek to keep me from playing tennis for two years. I will immediately appeal the suspension portion of this ruling to CAS, the Court of Arbitration for Sport.”
In October 2016, after Sharapova appealed her two-year suspension, the Court of Arbitration for Sport announced that her punishment would be reduced by 15 months, allowing her to return to international competition in April 2017. “I’ve gone from one of the toughest days of my career to, now, one of the happiest days,” the tennis player said in a statement.
At the conclusion of her suspension, Sharapova returned to action at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on April 26, 2017. She won her first WTA title in two years at the Tianjin Open in October, and gradually battled her way back into the sport's Top 30 before the start of the French Open in May
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