Maria Sharapova – Bikini Gallery

October 2, 2008

By cool-chicks.com

Maria Sharapova – Arguably, the combination of her tennis success and physical beauty have enabled her to secure commercial endorsements that greatly exceed in value her tournament winnings. In April 2005, People Magazine named her one of the 50 most beautiful celebrities in the world. In 2006, Maxim magazine ranked Sharapova the hottest athlete in the world for the fourth consecutive year. She posed in a six-page bikini photoshoot spread in the 2006 Valentine’s Day issue of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, alongside 25 scantily-clad supermodels. In a poll run by Britain’s FHM magazine, she was voted the seventh most eligible bachelorette, based on both “wealth and looks.”

Sharapova used the Prince Tour Diablo for part of 2003 and then used several different Prince racquets until the US Open. She gave the racquet she used in the 2004 Wimbledon final to Regis Philbin when taping Live with Regis and Kelly. Sharapova began using the Prince Shark OS at that tournament and had a major part in the production of the Shark racquet. She then switched to the Prince O3 White racquet in January 2006. Because of Sharapova’s various shoulder injuries, she switched to the Prince O3 Speedport Black Longbody in July 2008.

In June 2007, Forbes magazine listed her as the highest-paid female athlete in the world, with annual earnings of over US$23 million. (CBS, the American television network, reported in August 2006 that the figure is over US$26 million.) The majority is made from endorsements and sponsorships. In a later interview, she said,

“You know, one of the greatest things about being an athlete and, you know, making money is realizing that you can help, you know, help the world, and especially children, who I absolutely love working with.”

In 2005 during a photo shoot for Canon, a lewd photo was taken of Sharapova without her knowledge by Japanese advertising agency Dentsu. The company currently has a lawsuit related to this incident.