Maria Sharapova Sweet Pictures

Outside tennis

Sharapova has lived in the United States since moving there at the age of seven. She has a home in Manhattan Beach, California. Sharapova lists fashion, movies, music and reading theSherlock Holmes and Pippi Longstocking series as among her off-court interests,while she has also talked in the past about how she takes hip-hop dance classes. Sharapova has a Pomeranian named Dolce, which means "sweet" in Italian.

At the 2004 US Open, Sharapova, along with several other Russian female tennis players, wore a black ribbon in observance of the tragedy after the Beslan school hostage crisis, which took place only days before. In 2005, she donated around US$50,000 to those affected by the crisis.^]On February 14, 2007, Sharapova was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and donated US$210,000 to UNDP Chernobyl-recovery projects. She stated at the time that she was planning to travel back to the area after Wimbledon in 2008,^[90] though it didn't happen as she had to travel back to the US because of shoulder injury.^[91] She fulfilled the trip in late June – early July 2010. With Haynes, Kirilenko, Vaidišová, Stubbs, Governor Bush and Capriati, Sharapova participated in an exhibition in Tampa in December 2004, raising money for the Florida Hurricane Relief Fund.

In July 2008, Sharapova sent a message on DVD to the memorial service of Emily Bailes, who had performed the coin toss ahead of the 2004 Wimbledon final that Sharapova had gone on to win.^[92]

Sharapova helped promote the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Sharapova has often implied that she desires an early retirement. Following the retirement of 25-year-old Justine Henin, Sharapova said, "If I was 25 and I'd won so many Grand Slams, I'd quit too."^[93] In an interview after the 2008 Australian Open, she balked at the idea of playing for another ten years, saying that she hoped to have a "nice husband and a few kids" by then.^[94]

Sharapova is engaged to Slovenian born professional basketball player Sasha Vujačić, who plays for the New Jersey Nets.^[95][96] The two have been dating since 2009.^[97]

Sharapova is a stamp collector and has a "huge collection" compiled since she was a child.^[98]

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