As tennis player Maria Sharapova became rich and famous

Photo: Facebook Maria Sharapova

Famous Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova released an autobiographical book, The Expendables. My life". Edition Forbes published interesting excerpts from the book. There are a lot of character in the history, a lot of difficulties, a lot of tennis player Serena Williams, even more trainings, coaches and matches, quite a bit of personal life and few pages about business.

As an ordinary girl became a sensation in tennis.

Sharapovay began her career at a children's tournament in Florida, where 11-year-old Maria fought with girls on 2-3 a year older. “For my age, I was short and skinny, with my knees turned inward,” Sharapova recalls herself. From the stands she was watched by former tennis player Betsy Nagelsen. She ended her career at 1996 (her maximum is #23 in the single ranking and #11 in doubles) and worked as a television commentator, but most importantly, she was the wife of Mark Mckormack, the founder and owner of the marketing agency IMG.

This agency at the end of the 1990-s represented the interests of many top athletes and participated in the organization of Wimbledon-level tournaments.

“We need to invest in athletes when they are young, put them firmly on their feet and allow them to flourish,” explains the IMG philosophy of Sharapova. - As they succeed, IMG will flourish. If one out of ten children they find and sign a contract with is successful, that will be enough. ”

That is why, after seeing a phenomenal Russian girl on the court, Nagelsen called her husband, and then Gavin Forbes, the main tennis scout of the IMG. “I get a dozen of such calls every week ...” Forbes Sharapov quotes memories. “98% of the time you see just cute children and good tennis players, maybe even very good, but between very good and outstanding is a huge distance.”

Having found out more about Sharapova, Forbes was surprised at her story: usually the tennis careers of young athletes are moved by their mothers, and then another story - the father took the little daughter from Russia to the States, and her mother stayed at home in Sochi. In the book, Gavin recalls in great detail how he first saw Sharapov on the court: “the blows were absolutely the same”, “this is absolutely unbelievable”, “unreal concentration” and other details of admiration. But the main question Forbes asked the girl after the game: “Maria, what do you want to do in life?”. “I want to be the best tennis player in the world,” Gavin recalls, Sharapova replied.

Photo: Facebook Maria Sharapova

IMG could not miss such a child. Sharapov was sent a young sports agent, Max Eisenbad. His first impressions of the young tennis player were also enthusiastic, but more importantly, he immediately found a common language with her father. “Max Eisenbad will be one of the most important people in my life, that constant component of it, which you can always rely on,” Maria admits. “And he is also one of the closest attorneys for Yuri (Sharapova’s father. - Ed.), That one person, besides family members, who was near when everything was fine, and getting even closer when something wasn’t working.”

How much did Sharapova's first contract cost

Rumors that IMG is about to sign a talented Russian girl alarmed the agency market: now Sharapova wanted everything, but still got a young athlete all the same IMG. “Because they were the first to pay attention to us and because at that time their offer was the best for us,” Maria explains in the book.

Sharapova's father asked for $ 50 000 per year - to rent an apartment, buy a car, etc. (he lived with friends then, and his daughter - in the dormitory of the Nika Bolletieri Academy). But Gavin Forbes explained that he would need more money. In the end, agreed on the amount of about $ 100 000 per year.

“The contract with IMG has changed all our lives,” recalls Sharapova. “We didn’t have to worry about food and the roof over our head ... This money, which began to come to our account, they taught me something ... Tennis is a sport, but not just a sport. It is a passion, but not just a passion. This is a business. This is money. This is stability for my family. I understood that now. You may think that it upset me and deprived of illusions. But the exact opposite happened. I finally realized that I was at stake ... From that moment, my task has become extremely simple - just go and win. ”

After signing the contract with IMG, another important event happened in Sharapova’s business career. Gavin Forbes arranged an exhibition match with Maria for top managers of the tennis department Nike. A few weeks later, the company signed a contract with 11-year-old Sharapova. The agreement was spelled the amount of $ 50 000 plus bonuses.

Photo: Facebook Maria Sharapova

How Sharapova inspired the company Motorola to create advertising

The first Grand Slam - Wimbledon tournament Maria Sharapova won the 3 July 2004 of the year.

“My phone was continuously ringing, agents from all over the world were striving for me, the flow of proposals was growing,” Maria recalls what happened after the victory. - And how to say NET, if the whole world calls you? Everything was fine, on paper everything looked perfect. It was later that I turned into an aggressive advertiser, a master of sales with a name in the advertising world. It all started with a single company - Motorola».

The plot of the commercial for the mobile phone maker tossed Wimbledon. Having won the final match of the tournament in Serena Williams, Sharapova climbed onto the podium where her father sat. These were very touching moments: happy hugs, important words, joyful tears.

“When I began to go downstairs, I suddenly remembered Mom! - Writes a tennis player. - It is necessary to urgently inform my mother ... Yuri took out his mobile phone from his pocket and threw it in my direction. The perfect cast is the perfect reception. I started dialing when I approached the TV camera for the post-match interview. ”

It was not possible to get through, but the moment was remembered - and Motorola used it to promote her new model RAZR: in an advertising video, Sharapova calls her mom after an important match, and she doesn’t have a simple clamshell in her hand, but a fashionable phone that hasn’t been available yet. Mary company issued a prototype for personal use - “cool, superfine and brilliant”, which were seen at restaurants.

So Sharapova became the face of "Motorola". After that, the tennis player showered offers - one is more interesting than the other. TAG Heuer, Land Rover, Canon etc. Nike, who signed Sharapov back in 11 years, now began to shoot her in advertising.

“I never planned to become a major promoter of goods or the face of advertising companies - it happened by itself,” says Maria. “It was rather one of the side effects of what I did in tournaments, but thanks to that I became famous.”

Photo: Facebook Maria Sharapova

Already in 2005, Sharapova topped the ranking of the highest paid athletes Forbes and remained its leader 11 for years in a row. Only the 2016 dope scandal of the year, due to which Maria missed a lot of tournaments and got problems with sponsors, allowed Serena Williams to move the Russian tennis player to second place. In the 2017 rating, Sharapova did not even make it to the top 10. However, in April her disqualification ended: Maria returned to the tour, and last week she won the first WTA tournament since 2015 of the year. In 2018, she has a chance to return to the ranking of the highest paid athletes.

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