Yes  Brebis, I fear I am getting sicker and older and it wont be too long before I wont be able to find my way to this forum any more. 

Yes, she did Bomb out in Paris then made the excuse that she had picked up a virus and cancelled Doha.  Then, flew back to the States, but instead of going home to California, she spent a week and a half in Cold Wet Windy New York visiting Vera Wang, Oscar de la Renta and Rodarte fashion shows while the rest of the girls were performing their jobs as professional tennis players in Doha. 

i dont get what is the whole bickering about what Maria chooses to do with her schedule really...

To think that she is not commited to tennis, is according to her overall performance and results, sorry to say so, but it is ... STUPID.

Maria has a wonderful last year... she reached -i dont even remember how many- finals, she took a Slam, she went to the no1 spot after so many years, she took quite a handful of trophies, she took a silver medal, she went to the finals of the Championships.

And now we bitch about the viruses and the Gala's Maria is attending and her candy business and the fashion stuff etc etc.

Why? I know a lot of people want to see Maria have nothing else in life except tennis. I can appreciate and respect that. But she is not the highest paid female athlete by chance... she is working for it in various ways. Some of them involve stuff outside of tennis.

But she never showed more commitment to this sport, than she has the last couple of years. Her performance, results and overall working she has put to, confirms just that.

If you ask me Maria was never so much focused and in love with tennis as she is now.

And besides, it is not just Maria that skips tournaments... every single player out there does that. And yeah they might lie about the true reasons they withdraw. Even the best tennis players in the world do that (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic). Why should Maria be judged on that as if she is skipping those tournaments because she just "doesnt care"...

Folks... please remember....

If something Maria doesnt need to do anymore is.... TENNIS... yep you heard me... Maria doesnt need tennis anymore. She has so many business and income coming through other activities, that tennis is just.... "pennies" for Masha. She doesnt even need the "success" anymore... she already has accomplished most things, she is already considered a great tennis player... She can retire and would still be one of the highest paid and successful atheletes on that list.

And that brings me to the most admirable stuff about Maria:

That even though she doesnt need to sweat, work, put countless hours on practice courts, travel all over the globe and endure this crazy tennis life, even though seh doesnt need all that.... she still does it. She still goes to the practice court every day, she still tries to get better, sheis still in love with the game, she still NEEDS the game.

Not because of the money, not because of the fame (she has that anyway now), but because she just god damn LOVE TENNIS. And that is really cool for a person who has accomplished pretty much everything she could ask for, both on and off the court already.


Peace out.

Hi Valkyre, It's a never ending story with the messages of Philli. She always wants to have that last word. Let's agree on one thing, we will ignore her messages and know one thing for sure , she can never ever change the fact that Maria has made it in life !! For that I do take my hat off.   

Brebis, you're right.  I dont know what's happened to me over these last few years.  I can hardly even get along with myself.  Maybe my various illnesses have get the better of me.  Whatever, I will stop submitting any more negative crap and leave the Forum to the Perfect Fans for a Perfect person.  Bye.

Yes Val of course she is an Icon, that's never been in question.  7 years ago, on this Forum, I said that I rated people on their performances on the Court...not off it.  

No one can fault Maria for the success that she has had, but, and it is a big but, since 2007 when she got onto the fashion bug and dropped a bunch of weight that she never had to spare, she started dropping out of tournaments in the second round, getting beaten by qualifiers, and simply making excuses like the good old virus, fatigue...which can no longer be used as an excuse, never once mentioning her shoulder was the problem all along.  The reason for that was simple...the Sponsors were lining up to give her money...the last thing she needed was a dicky shoulder.  The rest in 2008 is history. 

 And that is what still irks me.  She is a compulsive liar when it comes to getting out of tournament commitments.  Her life off the court is now so crowded that she really has lost sight of that which made her 'great'. 

So what who cares? If only she had an ounce of humility. oh well. I'm done here.

Old, sick?  You got some company. Fortunately, by the time we got there, we have this magic devil-box to stay engaged.  

When I take time. I'll tell the young'uns what I learned from my mother, back whe she was a girl & a devotee of Suzanne Lenglen -- going on a CENTURY ago and from out here in what were then the wilds of Texas--far removed from Paris. 

Back then, celebrity was not denominated in money and fans lived altogether off the legend--factual news, even scores only reached them very much later. A few magazine features, read & re-read, + an occasional film clip down at the picture show between features, fed an impact on the status of women in society & sport no less intense than Masha's today.

Women were still fighting for the VOTE, yet lucky girls (and that didn't always mean rich--just happenstance) would go to the new asphalt tennis courts built on some city schoolgrounds and strive to emulate Lenglen. 

The global impacts of Masha are among the least discussed--because we have come again to the inception of social revolution and the press, property of the master class, doesn't necessarily appreciate the consequences. 

Philli tries to make it make sense, contained in a box of self-absorption & commercial hype. But, as Val points out, that doesn't quite work. Yet that debate brings us closer to the crux of the matter. The views of all here have value. 

Masha at age 17 in 2006:

Interviewer: You've been quoted, "There's never enough money. Bring on the money!" Some think you're a money-grubber...?

Sharapova: "But that's how the world works..." (pause, then significantly) "right now."

Unfortunately, going into the fashion bug or the fame bug, is pretty much a given when you are a beautiful woman who has great success...

It is bound to happen and it isnt just Maria that became a "victim" of it. In fact most tennis players are part of this situation. It just so happens that Maria is a tad prettier to the eyes of most people. And quite more successful. I dont think that Maria went over her head, or she became arrogant and forgot where and how she came to be what she is. I think that with all the media craziness she has to endure everyday, that she is doing a fine job keeping her private life private and have the exposure SHE wants.

She likes fame, but again I dont find that bad, or that it makes her forget what she was doing 15 years ago. And I dont think it has affected the way she approached tennis. If she was arrogant and she did not care about tennis, she would have taken the shoulder injury as a way to get away from tennis with ease. She could lie, tell everyone that the doctors said she cannot play high level of tennis again in her life. She would still make millions just by making photoshoots and appear in exhibitions, make a fragrance, candy whatever.

but instead she not only returned, but she really became better than ever. She really did try even though no1 would blame her if she stopped playing after that kind of injury. Remember no tennis player with such injury came back to tennis to win Slam and take no1 position. I like that about her. She didnt take the easy way out, she loves tennis and her decision to come back better than ever was proof of that.

Thanx. Let's assume the Samsung deal is pivotal to Sharapov Sochi ventures.

"The agreement with the Korean electronics giant was activated on April 1 and initially covers Sharapova’s native Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, with a view to expanding to become a global deal next year. (2013) “Maria really hasn’t been marketed that much in Russia,” Sharapova’s agent at IMG Worldwide, Max Eisenbud, told Bloomberg. “It’s important to her because that’s where her roots are. I also felt that was a really untapped market, with the 2014 Sochi Olympics coming up.”"

1) How's that deal been working out in the CIS?

2) Does global "expansion" involve additional partnerships?  

This might call for its own thread.