great pics

First picture:

\"MARIA SHARAPOVA: She's not the current number one player in the world, she may not be the one with more talent, she's not the more winning and maybe today she's not also the stronger one. But queques are only for her, all the media and audience attention is always for her. We're gonna tell you her story, from the siberian beginning to the worldwide success...\"
\"DREAMING OF MASHA: She's the most famous
She's the most rich
She's the most payed
She's the most requested
She's the most clicked
She's the most charming
She's the most desired
She's the most awaited\"

Third picture:

\"Baricco wrote that someone has America in his eyes and there's someone who see America in his own future. It was surely like this also for Yuri, a big man born in west Ukraine with his hair already grizzled and a great passion for skiing and tennis. It has been surely like this cause in March 1993 he took a beautiful child by the hand, left everything behind and went away. His daughter hadn't still turned six but she took her second-hand racquet, she tied her long blonde ponytail, she took her father by the hand and she left with him for America. That child was Masha. Maria would been born only after that flight upon the ocean.
A journey that she hadn't take her only in Florida, she took her to the win in the grass courts of Church Road at seventeen and she took her to be the first russian female player to be number one in the world.
Surely you can't blame the ones who say that Maria is the not the most talentuos player in the world; there's Henin with her great backhand and her volèe. Or you can't blame the ones who see Serena Williams as the strongest one (Serena has beaten Maria two times this year: at the Australian Open and in Miami). But you have to ponder what you say cause Maria has already turned twenty and she still has a lot to give. In any case if you talk with someone about tennis, you're gonna see that he's gonna think about Federer and...Sharapova. She's the one who has all the media attention, everyone wants her autograph, a lot of tickets are bought only to see her. Not Justine. Not Serena. Or maybe also Justine and Serena, but first comes Maria.
But we were talking about the journey, the real one. As a lot of people of their same country in the first years of XX century, father and daughter made a lot of miles to reach the States. Years ago they arrived in Ellis Island with cardboard suitecases and a lot of communication problems, Yuri and Masha arrived in Miami with two bags full of racquets and 700 $ in their pockets. \"

Credit to Boffaloraa

it made good reading

Sixth Picture:

\"Yuri and Maria went living in Venice, a few miles away from Bradenton. To mantain himself and Maria Yuri had to start working, two or three works at a time. There weren't tie and jacket work, there were hard works also because you don't give easily a work to a russian just arrived in America. These were two difficult years, also because dad-coach had to find time to train Maria. But it wasn't only hard times for the Sharapov; Maria was winning a lot of tournaments and this let her win scholarship for the Bollettieri academy in 1995. Students dormitory are just beyond the entrance, after the parking. Maria lived there for seven months, away from his father who stayed with her every hour of her life: now she can hug him only in the week-end. These were seven months who lasted three times more for Maria: she wasn't speaking english very well and she was very young and this made her the favourite object of other students jokes.
In June 1996 another positive turning point: with a brand new visa even mom Yelena could jump on a plain and reach husband and daughter in Florida. Our three heroes were finally in the same city and this let leave our nine years old Maria the academy dormitory for a house with mom and dad.
Century change and change millennium. It's the 2001, 13 miles southern than Bradenton, Maria entered for the first time in an ITF draw, the Sarasota one. She loses in the first round in three sets from Karin Miller but her personality and her play let everyone know that Bollettieri accademy would probably have bring out another champion.
In 2002 Maria has a wild card for the Indian Wells tournament. Maria plays against a qualifier, Brie Rippner, number 302 in the wta ranking. She beats her. In the second round she finds a tennis legend, Monica Seles. Even if Monica wasn't playing the best tennis, she easily beat the young kid 6-2 6-0. Maria learned a lot from this loss. In the next three weeks Maria plays three ITF tournaments. She wins all of them. She closes 2002 with two more finals played and with a 186 ranking.
2003 opens with a couple of unlucky first rounds but also with her debut in two Grand Slams tournaments. She enters the main draw in Melbourne and in Paris but she loses in the first round. The Birmingham tournament is decisive. She enters the main draw, she beats Dechy and Dementieva. She loses in the semi from Asagoe but this let her gain 30 places in the ranking and convince everyone in Church Road to reserve her a wild card. In the fourth round only Svetlana Kuznetsova ruins her party in Wimbledon. But in 2004 nobody, not even Serena Williams could stop her to be the third youngest player to win the Venus Rosewater Dish.
The rest is nowadays history, tennis history. Maria has just turned twenty, she won 15 titles with two Grand Slams victory: at the famous Wimbledon she had infact added also the 2006 US Open.\"

RED BOX

\"THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARIA
0,006 are the seconds who need Google to find almost 2.000.000 results for the \"Maria Sharapova\" search.
9.165.852 are the dollars that Masha gained only with the prize money in her young career.
15 are the titles she won.
245 are her career victory.
59 are her losses in the 304 match she played.
80,59 is her percentage win in career.
10.916 are the km that separetes Nyagan from Bradenton.
126 are the \"grunts\" during a match at the Australian Open.
10 are the multinationals that have chosen Maria as a testimonial (Nike, Prince, Gatorade, Motorola, Canon, Tag Heuer, Land Rover, Colgate, Samantha Tavasa and Speedminton).
19,2 are the million of dollars that she earns every year.\"

EIGHTH PICTURE:

\"But if saying that she is inspired by Audrey Hepburn is pretty normal, saying that she defines herself as a \"Reneissance woman\" needs some more explanation. \"A Reneissance woman is a person who is much more compared to what is known for\". In Maria's case tennis. Thanks Masha, banality doesn't live in Bradenton. But to these words correspond real facts. Above all her tennistic and commercial duties, she created her own fragrance, she designes handbags and she maintains a solid relationship with her fans through her official website www.mariasharapova.com. She answers their questions and she makes them part of her \"diva life\". That time she lost herself in a suite in Tokyo because it was too big. When on a private jet she almost fight with the pilot because according to her he made it \"dance\" too much. Or when Dolce, her beloved dog who always stay home (\"because I don't wanna be one of that player who has always dog around\"), hugged her for hours.
Characters like Masha divide people. You can love or hate them . And if this is true for fans, you can imagine how real this is for her collegues. We can say that some of them didn't show so much love for Masha. Anastasia Myskina said \"If she will play in Fed Cup, I'm out\". But also Justine Henin isn't a Masha and Yuri fan since last year US Open final when Justine accused Yuri of being unsporting. He disturbed me during all the match, Justine said, even calling a ball \"out\" like he was a judge. True or not, Yuri received a 2000$ penalty from WTA.
Nowadays Maria is dealing with physical problems, ice, massages and not so much tennis. But she should come back right in time for Rome. Even there all the media attention will be for her. Sorry for Serena, Venus, Martina and the others...\"

RED BOX
\"MASHA'S CHOICES\"
\"FAVOURITE MAGAZINE: Harper's Bazaar-great fashion articles and the only accurate horoscopes from my experiences.
ONE THING MARIA CANNOT STAND: Dentists, they're evil!.
FAVORITE HOBBY: Shopping.
FAVORITE CITY: New York- I don't think I can live there full time but a little apartment in Soho is my dream.
FAVORITE SONG: \"I Go Blind\" from Hootie and the Blowfish.
NICKNAMES: never had one, only Masha (Maria in russian).
HOW WOULD YOU SPEND A MILLION OF DOLLAR IN ONE DAY? For my family, for my friends and for charity.
EXPRESS A WISH: health, health and...health!
ONE PERSON YOU WOULD HAVE KNOWN: Marylin Monroe
ONE PLACE YOU WOULD LIKE TO GO: Maldives
OTHER SPORTS: Football and NBA.\"