Tennis queen Maria Sharapova reveals how she applies lessons learnt in sports into her business ventures during a recent webinar.
Russian tennis beauty Maria Sharapova has revealed how her sporting career has helped build a foundation for her foray into business.
The former World No. 1 joined sports columnist Jason Gay for the inaugural Wall Street Journal Future of Everything Festival webinar series, where she spoke about her candy company Sugarpova and other aspirations of working in architecture and in wellness facilities at hotels, resorts and spas.
“From my perspective…it’s been really nice to have this moment of reflection to look back at the 28 years of playing this one little sport, and what it meant to me, and recollecting, and also having the chance to form the foundation of the future.
“The relationship-building is one of the most incredible assets that I’ve gained along this journey. I’ve really gotten an MBA on the job…I love it. I think there are a lot of elements of my sport that I take into the world of business, and I’m still learning every single day,” said Maria.
She is glad that the lockdown has taken place post-retirement. “In hindsight, [my retirement] was great timing, because I’d be sitting here saying, ‘When do I train?’, ‘What do I train for?’ ” she added.
WATCH: When Maria Sharapova Talked About Outsider Experience In USA On Ellen DeGeneres Show
The year 2007 was full of new possibilities for Maria Sharapova. She was at the top of her game and had become one of the most recognized faces in tennis at the extremely young age of just 20.
The reason for this was her number one ranking in the world as well as three grand slam titles. Winning the US Open of 2006 had made her a bonafide star in the country. More and more people came to know that the Russian sensation was in fact a lot more American then they thought.
She had been a permanent US resident since 1994. Perhaps an example of her growing popularity in the US was an invitation to appear at the country’s top talk show called The Ellen DeGeneres show. The entire interview gave the people some key insights into the life and personality of the Russian sensation Maria Sharapova.
What did Maria Sharapova do at the Ellen DeGeneres show?
The highly talked about topic was, of course, her connection to America. She revealed that she had come to the country with her father like millions of other people who come there to fulfill their dreams and huge ambitions.
Her struggles were a lot more because neither she nor her father knew a word of English. However, her commitment to work harder and better eventually paid off for her. A very interesting part of the conversation was about her relationships.
She had famously dated Adam Levine, the lead singer of Maroon 5, in the past. Rumors were also ripe about her closeness with fellow tennis player Andy Roddick. This was brought up by Ellen who’s obviously not low on research. However, a prepared Maria Sharapova declared that she knew this question was coming and would not like to answer it.
The two capped off a fun night with a round of table tennis.
