• Biography
Learn more about who Maria is.
This info credit: Official Maria
On Court:
Maria was very much fond of
sport from the very childhood. When she was five years old she started
dancing, and when she was seven, her father brought her to ''Dinamo''
Moscow Central
Stadium, one of the best tennis schools at the time. He had used to play
tennis and to really enjoy it - though he could not imagine that this
sport will become such an important part of his family's life. Maria
started to make progress. In less than one year after starting to play
tennis Maria won her very first competitions. Since that, she attended
all kinds of competitions and tournaments, and soon the idea of becoming
a professional tennis-player seemed quite reasonable. Soon she became
the number one in her age group in Russia and the CIS. Maria practiced
at Dinamo and TsSKA sport grounds. Almost every day her parents brought
her there by car from Yubileyny - a
small town in Moscow region, where they lived. Right after school - into
the car. She could eat or have a rest on the way to the stadium. This
was a hard time. It was not easy to work on the technique for normally
there were several people practicing at the same time, although she was
lucky to have very experienced teachers. Sometimes she even had a chance
to attend international tournaments and to show good results there - but
usually it was very difficult to arrange everything for her to visit
such an event. When Maria was twelve years old, an Honored Master of
sports, Elena Brioukhovets, saw her while training. She noticed her at
once - if one could pay more attention to this girl, - Elena thought, -
she might show very impressive results. All the next year Elena watched
Maria making progress, and then offered her to work together.
From now on tennis became not only a profession but sort of a life style
for Maria. A three-year program was made, and a special team was
selected. Uncertain romantic dreams of having a success turned into a
strategic task - to be one of the best junior tennis-players in the
world. And in less than three years Maria was the number one in her age
group, and the number two in the group under eighteen. Working hard and
making progress, she started to believe in herself - and many others
also believed in her, too. For instance, the well-known tennis-players
Yevgeni Kafelnikov,
Andrey Olkhovsky and Maxim Mirny, who created an organization supporting
young tennis-players. They helped Maria to arrange her training-process
and to attend tournaments. All the rest depended on her and her progress.
She was lucky to have a good chance - but she had to make an effective
use of it. It feels great when you wake up and realize you are a star.
But first, you have to win eleven matches one after another. In 2002
Maria has become one of the youngest winners of the Canadian Open and
the US Open Junior Tournaments. Now, there is a further step to be made.
Since September 2002 Maria has started participating in WTA events.
Her Life:
It is quite different from
the life of other people of her age. First she practices in Odessa - the
place where her coach comes from - then goes to a tournament somewhere
in the U.S. or in Australia.
One would need years in order to go see all the places where Maria has
been to. She has visited Louvres, Madam Tussaud's Museum of Waxworks,
and almost all Disneylands in the U.S. She can tell you about terrible
monsoons in Thailand, or... how friendly Japanese people are. By the way,
it was Japan, where she played her first ''grown-up'' tournament. Of
course, she felt a bit nervous, but - because young generation is
treated very kindly in Japan, and all undertakings are welcome, or -
because Maria is not taller than the Japanese themselves, - she was met
with encouragement. Press conferences, autographs, taking pictures...
But this is some kind of a compensation for the hard work, frequent
trips and long flights. Maria practices at the tennis-court for about
three hours per day; the rest of time is spent for physical training.
Because of her firm schedule she had to give up school - it is difficult
to go to one place for a month, and then, for two months - to another.
Maria had to look for some other variants of getting education. When she
was twelve,
she started to attend external studies for sportsmen. There are some
subjects she works on herself, and some she studies privately with
teachers. Tennis is not the only thing she likes. She loves football and
other sports. Whenever she goes, she takes her computer with her. And -
what makes her different from many other sportsmen - is her love for
classical music. She can listen Vivaldi, Mozart, Bach or Beethoven for
hours. Once she visited a concert of Mstislav Rostropovich. She was
lucky, for she could get acquainted with the maestro. Since then, he has
started to pay attention to tennis, and always asks about Maria's
results. She is still interested in dancing, and is in love with ballet.
When she has some free time, she likes to read. Her favorite books are
Dumas' ''The Three Musketeers'' and ''Twenty Years After'', Victor
Hugo's ''Notre-Dame de Paris'', ''White Fang'' by Jack London, and short
stories by O'Henry. She likes ''The Twelve Chairs'' and ''The Golden
Calf'' by Ilf and Petrov. Masha also reads ''Harry Potter'' and enjoys
detective stories. Maria loves watching movies. Her favorite ones are:
''The Barber of Siberia'' and ''The Story of a Knight''. Generally, she
prefers comedies.
After tournaments she and her parents, and sometimes also her coach and
other ''team'' members, go to the country. It's great to spend the whole
day with a rod by a river (Maria loves fishing), or to bake potatoes,
sitting around a fire with friends. This is her favorite meal - although,
having no special diet, she is very experienced in food. The only
restrictions concern pastries. Maria has tried European and Oriental
cuisine, foreign delicacies... and fast food in a hurry. That is why her
favorite meals are those her mother cooks for her at home, or -
something like baked potatoes in the open air. Masha has time not only
for practicing, playing tournaments and baking potatoes. She drives a
car, a boat, a small yacht... But, certainly, the number one in her life
is tennis. Even when she has free time - which she usually lacks - Maria
watches TV translation of interesting matches, enjoys the way Yevgeni
Kafelnikov or Jennifer Capriarty play. She is anxious about the results
of the Russian tennis players.