Sharapova the tennis player had humble beginnings. Her parents moved from Gomel in western Russia to the industrial town of Nyagan in western Siberia in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Their only child, Maria was born the following year on April 19, 1987. A year later the family moved to the Black Sea resort town of Sochi . Father Yuri, a construction worker, recognized and nurtured his daughter's tennis ability from a young age. Recognition of her talent came early, as in 1993 at tennis clinics in Moscow during the Kremlin Cup, Martina Navratilova saw the young Sharapova play and was impressed. But Navratilova also informed Yuri that in order to reach her full potential as a tennis player, she needed specialized instruction. Seeking that instruction, in 1995 Yuri and Maria left Russia for the United States .

The Sharapovas persistence paid off. Eventually, her talent was recognized and she received a scholarship to the Mecca of tennis training, the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton , Florida . There, renowned coaches such as Robert Lansdorp and Nick Bollettieri refined and rebuilt her ground strokes and technique. Her talent and early success paid off for her family as her mother, who had stayed behind in Russia for visa reasons, was able to rejoin Maria and Yuri in June 1996. Even at aged 11, her talent and physical looks stood out, and she soon signed with sport marketing agency, IMG, and was placed with the Vice President of IMG Tennis, Max Eisenbud. From her early years however, Sharapova's work ethic was apparent. Her grueling regimen of six hours a day practices and exhausting travel schedule began to pay-off with tournament successes. With each success her marketing profile rose, and soon Maria Sharapova achieved the ultimate marketing distinction, she became her own brand.

Maria Sharapova's rise to prominence in women's professional tennis contains many story lines that give her marketing appeal, especially in the United States. Her story is anchored in a “rags to riches” narrative which underpins the “American Dream.” Her work ethic and drive is very American, demonstrating what sacrifice, determination, hard work, a healthy lifestyle, and talent can achieve. Her success also had a US tagline with Florida-based professional coaching in a world-class training environment. Her fearless, all-action, on-court style demonstrates an aggression that is admired in US culture. Even her grunts after each ground-stroke contrast with her hyper-feminine sex appeal. All defined and contributed to her marketing appeal. The combination of toughness, aggression and overt sexuality was found to attract not just tennis's usual upper-middle class demographic segment but also sponsors normally drawn to the male dominated power and performance team sports such as football and basketball.

Sharapova has had a few slices of luck on the way. Her first big commercial endorsement deal came on the back of her success at Wimbledon . Immediately after winning the ladies' singles title, Sharapova was caught on TV trying unsuccessfully to call her mother on a cell phone. This moment was not lost on IMG marketing executive, Alan Zucker, at that time watching her triumph on TV. He called a contact at Motorola. One month later Sharapova had her first global endorsement deal with Motorola worth an estimated one million dollars a year. Her subsequent deal with Motorola provided her with a mobile phone and a share of the income from downloads from HelloMoto/Maria (Kafta, 2005).

By 2005, Maria Sharapova was a brand in herself, and over 2005-8 her brand appeal was developed in several directions, but it was always anchored in her unique combination of athleticism and attractiveness. Her power and athletic dimension was used by Canon as the centerpiece of their PowerShot SD630 Digital Elph camera launch campaign in 2006. The campaign featured television, print, internet and retail components that captured Sharapova's power on the court and then followed it with off-court moments as an entourage of tennis balls followed her as she toted her PowerShot camera through the streets ( Anderson , 2005).

Most celebrity sport stars are most effective when endorsing sport-related products and services related to their chosen sports. Sharapova's appeal extended beyond tennis to include other dimensions of her lifestyle. Aside from promoting the sports-related Gatorade, she also endorses the healthy image promoted with Tropicana brands. Her good looks made her a natural fit to sell cosmetics and fashion accessories. In 2005, coinciding with her achieving the number one world ranking in women's tennis, Parlux launched a Maria Sharapova Fragrance that parlayed her Wimbledon success into a US launch in New York and then an international rollout into Japan and Mexico. In the same year Colgate-Palmolive tabbed Sharapova to promote their global deodorant, antiperspirant and body spray brands. A company news release by Colgate-Palmolive explained their rationale thus:

Her worldwide tennis fame has also given her global brand status that has been used effectively by a number of international companies. Among them, Swiss luxury sports watch manufacturer Tag-Heuer, where she joins an elite force with three other ‘brand ambassadors'—Nascar driver Jeff Gordon, actress Uma Thurman and golfer Tiger Woods to promote the company's mid-level watch range selling at $1000-$5000. Her particular product, the Tag-Heuer Professional Sports Watch is pink (Sharapova's favorite color), and has diamonds embedded in an elegant, slim, avant-garde design. Made of ultra-light titanium and stainless steel, the product mirrors Sharapova's toughness and femininity (O'Loughlin, 2007). Her crossover appeal was described thus by Jean-Christophe Babin, TAG Heuer's President and Chief Executive Office:

Other international firms jumped on the Sharapova commercial bandwagon. They were influenced by the jet-set image that matches the public's perception of global tennis player lifestyles. In 2006, as part of their global roll-out of their new SUV line, Land Rover announced that Maria Sharapova had become their brand ambassador in a multi-year deal that provided her free use of their vehicles. Mike O'Driscoll, President, Aston Martin Jaguar Land Rover North America, explained the rationale:

Sharapova's undoubted sex appeal underpinned her commercial aura. In 2005 she became the most downloaded female celebrity and was recognized by People magazine as among the 50 most beautiful celebrities in the world. Sharapova, dubbed the “Siberian Siren” because of her sex appeal, has appeared in Vogue and in the 2006 issue of the fabled swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated , whose iconic annual edition usually features scantily clad supermodels. Sharapova posed in a six-page bikini photo shoot special. In 2006, Maxim magazine listed her as the hottest athlete in the world for the fourth consecutive year. Sharapova reaction remained consistent, and she has been laconic about her appeal. She notes: “Beauty sells. I have to realize that's also part of why people want me. I understand it. It's fine. I'm not going to make myself ugly” (Kafta, 2005, p. 117).

Like other elite female tennis players such as Anna Kournikova, Serena Williams, and Venus Williams, Sharapova's interest in fashion and style has been carefully crafted and nurtured by IMG, her management agency and various other sponsors, who have been careful in broadening rather than narrowing her product appeals. Thus Sharapova has worn both functional and revealing outfits, both designed by Nike. At the 2006 US Open (which she won) she appeared in a Breakfast at Tiffany's-inspired dress replete with sequins and a futuristic neckline. This was followed at the 2007 US Open with a dress decorated with interpretations of New York 's skyline. Her red dress, worn for night matches balanced function with style. Functionally, the garment was made of breathable wicking jersey and constructed with a no-sew technique with seams bonded with heat and silicone. From a style perspective, it had more than 600 Swarovski crystals sewn into the neckline and three crystal buttons down the back, creating a keyhole effect. Sharapova has also worked as a celebrity promotional model and handbag designer for luxury designer label Samantha Thavasa. The combination of Sharapova's glamour hyper-feminine appeal and her on-court aggressiveness was utilized by Nike at the 2006 US Open. In it Sharapova was featured in a television commercial that had her walking and riding through the streets of New York while everyone around her sung “I Feel Pretty”. The song was promptly cut short as she began playing and returning a serve with her trademark grunt.

The combining of athletic success and glamour appeal has been only a relatively recent phenomenon. It is a potent combination and has enabled elite celebrity female athletes like Sharapova to use their full inventory of physical and mental talents. An alert media and astute sports managers have been quick to note the difference. As a result Sharapova's athleticism and physical attractiveness have garnered sponsorships and endorsements that allow her to achieve brand equities worth $20 million a year. There is no doubt that her physical attributes are special, and in this commercial age, Sharapova's special mix has given her an edge. As Max Valiquette, president of Toronto youth marketing firm Youthography notes:

There is an upside to Sharapova's unique attributes. In sports generally, and in women's professional tennis, success and exposure parallel each other. Most of the televised matches feature at least one player who ranks in the top ten. This means that only the top ranked, marquee players and their endorsers receive significant media exposure. Thus, if she was just another excellent tennis player, Sharapova's commercial appeal would be predicated only on her continued success on the women's professional tennis circuit. This is a fact of sports life and is reflected in Sharapova's endorsement contracts, most of which contain performance-related clauses which pay out full value only if she attains specific goals such as winning a Grand Slam or rising to the number-one ranking in the world (Kafta, 2005). Cognizant of this and no doubt aware of the ill-fated Kournikova career, father Yuri and her managers at IMG reportedly limit her sponsorship work to just three weeks a year to keep young Maria focused on her tennis (Kafta, 2005). That is, while she continues to get results, her endorsement value should continue to increase. Given her youth, this places her in a position to earn more than any other female athlete in the history of women's sports.

But there is a flip side. It is true that her current revenues are maximized with on-court successes. But the longer her exposure at the top level is maintained, the greater the likelihood that a post-tennis career would be successful. Exposure over time creates notoriety. If she reaches the pinnacle and achieves the iconic status of a Chris Evert, or a Martina Navratilova, then follow-on careers (for example, in modeling) become that much easier with the name recognition factor. This occurs as Sharapova graduates from being an attractive sex symbol who played some tennis (a Kournikova) to a tennis ‘great' who has extraordinarily good looks. Looks may erode over time, but sports fame and good looks fade less quickly.