She may not be the #1 ranked women's tennis player, but Maria Sharapova represents everything that WTA founder Billie Jean King has fought so hard for over the past 30 years. At 17, Maria quickly has become the face of women's tennis, replacing Venus and Serena Williams as the most popular draw on the Women's Tennis Association tour, which makes a weeklong stop in Villanova, Pa., this week for the $585,000 Advanta Championships.
Sharapova is young and beautiful, but as she showed by becoming the first Russian to win Wimbledon this year, she also is extremely talented. And because of that she is beginning to distance herself from comparisons to Russian heartthrob Anna Kournikova. "She's just ignited women's tennis this year," King said Friday at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where the draw for next week's tournament was made. "She's by far the biggest ticket-seller we have in the game. She's got the `it' factor. People love watching her and boy can she hit the ball hard. She's highly intense."
A year ago, Sharapova could have slid in and out of Villanova's Pavilion unnoticed. But, since winning Wimbledon, she has become tennis' hottest attraction. Unlike Kournikova, who never won a major tournament, Sharapova is looking for her fifth WTA victory of 2004. She is ranked seventh in the world and is fifth in earnings this year at more than $1.4 million. She already has signed endorsement deals with Nike, NEC and Prince, and early next year she will begin marketing her own line of perfume.
In many ways, King is happy for Sharapova and what she has done for women's tennis. Since King founded the WTA in 1971, annual prize money has soared from $350,000 to more than $60 million. King, 60, wants Sharapova to be given the respect she fought so hard to attain after that historic win over Riggs. She wants Sharapova to be appreciated for her booming serve and strong groundstrokes, not as a Kournikova look-alike who chases endorsements harder than she chases opponents' drop shots.
What concerns King most is the exploitation of Sharapova. She would like her to be recognized as a wonderful tennis player who happens to be beautiful, instead of a supermodel who happens to play tennis.For Sharapova, that means playing tennis - and lots of it. Next week will mark her 20th tournament of the year. And at the age of 17, King believes that is simply too much. "I've already talked to her about it," King said. "I'm worried she's playing too much. I'm concerned already. She loves to play tennis and I never want the passion to be taken away from her. I want her to think about her schedule, not just think about the dollars. Most players think so much about money now that they make bad decisions for longevity."
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