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Sharapova emerges as teen business tycoon
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-12-16 09:09
Maria Sharapova loves to shop, gossip with girlfriends, write and pore over
photos in glossy fashion magazines. But that's where similarities with other
17-year-olds end.
Russian tennis
player Maria Sharapova, 17, looks at a TAG Heuer watch, with TAG Heuer
President and CEO Jean-Christophe Babin during an advertising campaign
photo shoot for the watch maker, Sunday, Dec. 12, 2004, in Malibu, Calif.
[AP] |
She emerged this year as one of the
world's best tennis players, winning Wimbledon and carefully cultivating a
lucrative endorsement portfolio whose worth puts a typical teenager's allowance
to shame.
"One day I can be with my friend talking about the girliest, weird things and
the next day I'm in a meeting talking about a deal or sponsorship or doing a
photo shoot that are run by all adults that want my opinion," she told The
Associated Press recently.
"I make the transition quite well. I always thought I'm more mature than
other kids my age, but that's because of the sport I play and the business I'm
in. If you're not mature, I don't know how you can accomplish what you do."
What Sharapova did this year was, in her words, "extraordinary." She rose to
a career-high fourth in the year-end WTA rankings after starting at No. 32. She
finished with a 55-15 match record, earned more than $2.5 million in prize money
and won five titles, including Wimbledon and the WTA Championships over Serena
Williams.
Those results raised Sharapova's appeal to sponsors and fashion magazines,
putting her among select female players who, like Williams, are in demand on and
off the court.
TAG Heuer, the prestigious Swiss sports watch
and chronograph maker announced that the 17-year-old Russian tennis
champion Maria Sharapova becomes its newest brand female ambassador, and
is seen on a photo shoot in this undated publicity photograph.
[AP] | Sharapova's Wimbledon victory triggered
more than 300 requests for photo shoots.
"I've said 'No' more since July 3 than I've ever said in my life," her agent,
Max Eisenbud, said. "Knowing that we're only going to do a few deals gave us the
luxury to really be selective. She has total control of her career on
everything."
Sharapova's business is handled by about 20 people from her management
company, IMG. They are stationed in the United States, Japan, Korea and Europe
to sift through offers. Time demands are a key consideration.
"If some stupid company offers you millions of dollars, but wants you to work
30 days a year, that's nonsense," she said.
Sharapova's off-court time is tightly structured. During the brief offseason,
she might practice two hours several days a week in addition to two-hour fitness
workouts.
She is schooled via the Internet. Her mother, Yelena, cuts her textbooks into
sections, so Sharapova doesn't have to lug them around the world. She takes just
three courses a year, doing homework a few times a week.
"I'm not really in a hurry," she said. "I've always sort of been learning by
myself."
Then there are photo shoots, including one for the April issue of Vogue.
"What girl doesn't want that?" she said, smiling before popping a piece of
shrimp tempura sushi in her mouth and sipping on green tea.
But don't expect Sharapova, who has lived in Florida since coming from Russia
with her father when she was 9, to mimic Williams' many pursuits.
"I don't feel I can achieve two things at once," she said. "I have so many
worries on the court and things I need to be working on and I need rest."
Sharapova's newest deal is ambassador for TAG Heuer, maker of timepieces that
retail for thousands of dollars.
"That's a very hard thing," she said. "You want to be associated with
prestige companies, but on the other side, not so many people can afford
prestige."
Of course, it helps that Sharapova is an attractive blonde who looks good in
slinky gowns and perilously high heels and her tennis clothing.
"We have the luck that she is a very beautiful and charismatic woman at 17,"
said Daniel Lalonde, CEO of TAG Heuer. "Her age is not a key for us."
He is counting on Sharapova to help attract more women to watches that have
long been pitched to men.
"I'm such a girly girl," she said. "I love being stylish and elegant because
on court it's mentally and physically draining. You give it all you've got, you
don't show your pretty side."
Some ugliness occurred last month when French Open champion Anastasia Myskina
threatened to quit Russia's Fed Cup team if Sharapova joins the squad, saying
she doesn't like Sharapova's father, Yuri.
Sharapova won't ask her father to stay away from her matches.
"He's been with me throughout my whole life and my whole career," she said.
"He's put so much effort and so much desire into trying to help me any way he
can."
Russian Fed Cup coach Shamil Tapischev said last month that Sharapova agreed
to play next year. Sharapova said her representatives are talking to Tapischev,
but nothing has been finalized.
Sharapova, an only child, is extremely close to her parents. Even though she
turns 18 in April, she's in no hurry to move out and be on her own.
"I love my parents," she said. "I trust them so much that I don't feel I need
to get rid of them."
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