From Russia With No Love, by Matt Slater
1987 Born 19 April, Nyagan, Siberia
1991 Starts hitting tennis balls aged four
1993 Spotted at Martina Navratilova exhibition in Moscow
1996 Starts at Nick Bollettieri's academy in Florida
2001 Turns pro on 14th birthday
2003 Wins two WTA events, qualifies for Australian and French Opens, reaches no. 31 in world, signs with IMG Models
2004 Wins five events including Wimbledon, named WTA player of the year, tops money list
2005 Wins three events, reaches number one, named highest paid female athlete by Forbes Magazine
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This will not surprise regular readers of the "good book", but it is incredible how many home truths are revealed in the Bible. Take, for example, the Old Testament tale of the Gileadites and the Ephraimites.
After a great battle, the victorious Gileadites set about catching the fleeing Ephraimites.
With identification a problem, their soldiers asked each person to say the ancient Hebrew word for ear of corn, "shibboleth".
Problem solved: the Ephraimites, with no "sh" sound in their dialect, couldn't pronounce it properly and promptly fell into the trap.
For "shibboleth" then, read "Sharapova" now.
Because in the week that the 18-year-old Maria Sharapova became the 15th player to reach the women's number one spot since rankings started, correct pronunciation is once again the nub of the matter.
Put simply, is the best female tennis player in the world, an ad man's dream from Florida, called "Sha-ra-POH-vuh" (as the Women's Tennis Association's pronunciation guide advises), or is she a rags to riches story from Siberia called "Sha-RAP-oh-vuh"?
Americans, the world's non-Russian-speaking media and, apparently, Sharapova herself prefer the former. Russian speakers insist it is the latter.
But is the 2004 Wimbledon champion still Russian? There are many in the country she left behind aged nine that no longer consider the baseline beauty to be one of their own.
Sharapova was taken by her coach and father Yuri to begin full-time training at Nick Bollettieri's renowned Tennis Academy in Florida.
Tennis folklore states that Yuri had to borrow £400 to do this, and it is widely known that Maria's mother Yelena was unable to join them for two years.
Nine years later, the leggy blonde with a booming forehand and a court-eating stride is a sports sensation....with an American accent, lifestyle and attitude.
Chief among those in the "made in America" camp are Sharapova's compatriots in the higher reaches of women's tennis.
"The computer doesn't lie - you have to achieve something to get there", said Sharapova.
When US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, ranked fifth in the world, was asked who was the most popular Russian player, she said: "Sharapova, of course, but I don't know if you would call her Russian, though. "She is more American than Russian. She speaks Russian with a coarse accent."
For Anastasia Myskina, the 2004 French Open champion and world number 13, Sharapova's MTV accent is the least of it - it's her Little League father and suspect loyalty to Mother Russia that bothers her.
Not only has Sharapova failed to play in front of her Russian fans in recent years, she has also declined to play for her country in the Fed Cup, the women's version of the Davis Cup.
This, and a perceived slight from the cheerleading Yuri, has riled the patriotic Myskina.
"If (Sharapova) joins our (Fed Cup) team next season, you won't see me there for sure," she said.
For her part, Sharapova is determined to remain true to her roots.
She has repeatedly explained that she skipped the Fed Cup so she could concentrate on becoming number one, and has continued to maintain that she has no plans to become a fully-fleged American.
And she is not without some support from "home".
Shamil Tarpishev, Russia's Fed Cup captain, has backed Sharapova's single-minded assault on the singles scene, while others have cut to the chase in characteristically straightforward fashion.
As a Russian Tennis Federation source told Reuters last year: "(The other players) are just jealous of Sharapova. They resent her sudden fame and fortune."
What he did not spell out, but everybody recognises, is that Sharapova, who turned professional at 14, is not only very good at tennis, she is also very beautiful - a winner with a winning smile that delivered £10m in off-court earnings last year.
Two years after Anna Kournikova, the first Russo-Floridian tennis starlet with pretensions of sporting AND marketing greatness, gave up on the "hard work" part of that ambition, Sharapova has perfected the blend. The sacrifices that she has undoubtedly made to reach the top of the tennis tree have all been worth it.
As Sharapova said: "The computer doesn't lie. You have to achieve something to get there. It's all been about hard work and dedication and the achievement has been amazing."
Stakhanovite principles such as "hard work" and "dedication" are what separates Sharapova from Kournikova (although her 6ft 2in frame probably helps), but will it ever be enough to endear her to those she left behind?
Having beaten the other eight Russians currently in the top 25 to the number one spot, Sharapova must now convince her compatriots that she is not going to pursue her American dream as far as the likes of naturalised citizens Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles did.
Until she does the girl from Siberia will have to get used to frosty receptions from home.
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Maria's Millions, by Caroline Cheese
It is the stuff of folklore now, but in 1994 Maria Sharapova's dad borrowed $1,000 so he could take his daughter to Florida to hone her tennis skills.
To say the least, it has proved to be a wise investment.
A year on from winning Wimbledon at the age of 17, Sharapova has jumped to the top of Forbes magazine's list of highest-paid female athletes with earnings of 18 million dollars and looks on course to become the richest woman in sport.
That shatters the mark set by previous rich list leader Serena Williams in the year to June 2004 of $10 million.
Unknowingly, Sharapova opened the door to one of her biggest deals when she attempted to phone her mum on Centre Court after stunning Serena in last year's final.
By August, Motorola had snapped up the teenager on a seven-year contract worth an estimated $1 million a year.
Multi-million-pound deals with Tag Heuer watches, Canon, Parlux Fragrances and Colgate-Palmolive have since followed.
By the time she arrived in Melbourne for the Australian Open in January, her image was emblazoned on a Nike advert big enough to cover a six-storey building with the tag line: "Is this the scariest sight in tennis?"
(It's worth noting that Nike are not exactly short on tennis icons, with Andre Agassi and Roger Federer both signed up to the clothes manufacturer.)
Sharapova celebrated her 18th with a Motorola-sponsored party
And in April, Sharapova's status as sport's most marketable woman was sealed when she celebrated her 18th birthday with a Motorola-sponsored party.
Guests, including actress Lindsay Lohan and Maroon 5's Adam Levine, were given Motorola's latest phone as their going-home gift.
Tag Heuer are preparing to launch a diamond-encrusted Maria Sharapova watch (yours for $1,800) and her own perfume is due out in September.
Life has changed for Sharapova, but she and her family have been preparing for this since she arrived in Florida at the age of seven.
After two years of financial struggle, she was accepted by super-coach Nick Bollettieri's academy.
She was signed up by marketing giants IMG by the time she was 11 and soon after signed a clothing deal with Nike.
"A lot has happened experience-wise, off-court wise," Sharapova said recently.
"But I've always felt like I was in the public eye and people expected good things from me. I've dealt with it really good.
Maria checks her watch - a diamond encrusted Tag worth $1800. "I know I've had a lot of attention and people recognise me, a lot more fans and a lot more marketing deals, but I've been enjoying it."
As she returns to the scene of that remarkable victory a year ago, Sharapova, still only 18, will be in more demand than ever before.
But if it does get too much, she can always seek solace in the $2.7 million mansion she has just snapped up in Florida.
Her Deals
Motorola, estimated annual $1,000,000
TAG Heuer, estimated annual $1,000,000
Canon, estimated annual $2,000,000
Parlux Fragrances, estimated annual $1,000,000
Colgate-Palmolive, estimated annual $2,000,000
Nike, estimated annual $980,000
Prince, estimated annual $810,000
Speedminton, estimated annual $210,000
1987 Born 19 April, Nyagan, Siberia
1991 Starts hitting tennis balls aged four
1993 Spotted at Martina Navratilova exhibition in Moscow
1996 Starts at Nick Bollettieri's academy in Florida
2001 Turns pro on 14th birthday
2003 Wins two WTA events, qualifies for Australian and French Opens, reaches no. 31 in world, signs with IMG Models
2004 Wins five events including Wimbledon, named WTA player of the year, tops money list
2005 Wins three events, reaches number one, named highest paid female athlete by Forbes Magazine
----------------------------------------------------------
This will not surprise regular readers of the "good book", but it is incredible how many home truths are revealed in the Bible. Take, for example, the Old Testament tale of the Gileadites and the Ephraimites.
After a great battle, the victorious Gileadites set about catching the fleeing Ephraimites.
With identification a problem, their soldiers asked each person to say the ancient Hebrew word for ear of corn, "shibboleth".
Problem solved: the Ephraimites, with no "sh" sound in their dialect, couldn't pronounce it properly and promptly fell into the trap.
For "shibboleth" then, read "Sharapova" now.
Because in the week that the 18-year-old Maria Sharapova became the 15th player to reach the women's number one spot since rankings started, correct pronunciation is once again the nub of the matter.
Put simply, is the best female tennis player in the world, an ad man's dream from Florida, called "Sha-ra-POH-vuh" (as the Women's Tennis Association's pronunciation guide advises), or is she a rags to riches story from Siberia called "Sha-RAP-oh-vuh"?
Americans, the world's non-Russian-speaking media and, apparently, Sharapova herself prefer the former. Russian speakers insist it is the latter.
But is the 2004 Wimbledon champion still Russian? There are many in the country she left behind aged nine that no longer consider the baseline beauty to be one of their own.
Sharapova was taken by her coach and father Yuri to begin full-time training at Nick Bollettieri's renowned Tennis Academy in Florida.
Tennis folklore states that Yuri had to borrow £400 to do this, and it is widely known that Maria's mother Yelena was unable to join them for two years.
Nine years later, the leggy blonde with a booming forehand and a court-eating stride is a sports sensation....with an American accent, lifestyle and attitude.
Chief among those in the "made in America" camp are Sharapova's compatriots in the higher reaches of women's tennis.
"The computer doesn't lie - you have to achieve something to get there", said Sharapova.
When US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, ranked fifth in the world, was asked who was the most popular Russian player, she said: "Sharapova, of course, but I don't know if you would call her Russian, though. "She is more American than Russian. She speaks Russian with a coarse accent."
For Anastasia Myskina, the 2004 French Open champion and world number 13, Sharapova's MTV accent is the least of it - it's her Little League father and suspect loyalty to Mother Russia that bothers her.
Not only has Sharapova failed to play in front of her Russian fans in recent years, she has also declined to play for her country in the Fed Cup, the women's version of the Davis Cup.
This, and a perceived slight from the cheerleading Yuri, has riled the patriotic Myskina.
"If (Sharapova) joins our (Fed Cup) team next season, you won't see me there for sure," she said.
For her part, Sharapova is determined to remain true to her roots.
She has repeatedly explained that she skipped the Fed Cup so she could concentrate on becoming number one, and has continued to maintain that she has no plans to become a fully-fleged American.
And she is not without some support from "home".
Shamil Tarpishev, Russia's Fed Cup captain, has backed Sharapova's single-minded assault on the singles scene, while others have cut to the chase in characteristically straightforward fashion.
As a Russian Tennis Federation source told Reuters last year: "(The other players) are just jealous of Sharapova. They resent her sudden fame and fortune."
What he did not spell out, but everybody recognises, is that Sharapova, who turned professional at 14, is not only very good at tennis, she is also very beautiful - a winner with a winning smile that delivered £10m in off-court earnings last year.
Two years after Anna Kournikova, the first Russo-Floridian tennis starlet with pretensions of sporting AND marketing greatness, gave up on the "hard work" part of that ambition, Sharapova has perfected the blend. The sacrifices that she has undoubtedly made to reach the top of the tennis tree have all been worth it.
As Sharapova said: "The computer doesn't lie. You have to achieve something to get there. It's all been about hard work and dedication and the achievement has been amazing."
Stakhanovite principles such as "hard work" and "dedication" are what separates Sharapova from Kournikova (although her 6ft 2in frame probably helps), but will it ever be enough to endear her to those she left behind?
Having beaten the other eight Russians currently in the top 25 to the number one spot, Sharapova must now convince her compatriots that she is not going to pursue her American dream as far as the likes of naturalised citizens Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles did.
Until she does the girl from Siberia will have to get used to frosty receptions from home.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Maria's Millions, by Caroline Cheese
It is the stuff of folklore now, but in 1994 Maria Sharapova's dad borrowed $1,000 so he could take his daughter to Florida to hone her tennis skills.
To say the least, it has proved to be a wise investment.
A year on from winning Wimbledon at the age of 17, Sharapova has jumped to the top of Forbes magazine's list of highest-paid female athletes with earnings of 18 million dollars and looks on course to become the richest woman in sport.
That shatters the mark set by previous rich list leader Serena Williams in the year to June 2004 of $10 million.
Unknowingly, Sharapova opened the door to one of her biggest deals when she attempted to phone her mum on Centre Court after stunning Serena in last year's final.
By August, Motorola had snapped up the teenager on a seven-year contract worth an estimated $1 million a year.
Multi-million-pound deals with Tag Heuer watches, Canon, Parlux Fragrances and Colgate-Palmolive have since followed.
By the time she arrived in Melbourne for the Australian Open in January, her image was emblazoned on a Nike advert big enough to cover a six-storey building with the tag line: "Is this the scariest sight in tennis?"
(It's worth noting that Nike are not exactly short on tennis icons, with Andre Agassi and Roger Federer both signed up to the clothes manufacturer.)
Sharapova celebrated her 18th with a Motorola-sponsored party
And in April, Sharapova's status as sport's most marketable woman was sealed when she celebrated her 18th birthday with a Motorola-sponsored party.
Guests, including actress Lindsay Lohan and Maroon 5's Adam Levine, were given Motorola's latest phone as their going-home gift.
Tag Heuer are preparing to launch a diamond-encrusted Maria Sharapova watch (yours for $1,800) and her own perfume is due out in September.
Life has changed for Sharapova, but she and her family have been preparing for this since she arrived in Florida at the age of seven.
After two years of financial struggle, she was accepted by super-coach Nick Bollettieri's academy.
She was signed up by marketing giants IMG by the time she was 11 and soon after signed a clothing deal with Nike.
"A lot has happened experience-wise, off-court wise," Sharapova said recently.
"But I've always felt like I was in the public eye and people expected good things from me. I've dealt with it really good.
Maria checks her watch - a diamond encrusted Tag worth $1800. "I know I've had a lot of attention and people recognise me, a lot more fans and a lot more marketing deals, but I've been enjoying it."
As she returns to the scene of that remarkable victory a year ago, Sharapova, still only 18, will be in more demand than ever before.
But if it does get too much, she can always seek solace in the $2.7 million mansion she has just snapped up in Florida.
Her Deals
Motorola, estimated annual $1,000,000
TAG Heuer, estimated annual $1,000,000
Canon, estimated annual $2,000,000
Parlux Fragrances, estimated annual $1,000,000
Colgate-Palmolive, estimated annual $2,000,000
Nike, estimated annual $980,000
Prince, estimated annual $810,000
Speedminton, estimated annual $210,000
