MARIA SHARAPOVA BY HAUTE LIVING.

I’m speaking with Maria Sharapova from her hotel in Australia, less than 24 hours after she has won her 34th career title at the Brisbane International. 
“It’s always nice to start off the year with a win,” she says casually, recognizing that this is the first of many tournaments she must win this year to maintain her number one position.
Beneath the calm façade is the heart of an intense player, whom John McEnroe called “tennis’ toughest competitor.” Behind the net she transforms herself from mild-mannered California blonde to a ferocious player, launching rocket-like serves to opponents, high-pitched screams, and the intensity of a puma fixed on its prey.

She was also involved in the creation of Avon’s Luck. “Working with Avon has been really rewarding,” says Sharapova. “Scents are so personal, and developing “Luck” and the messaging around the brand has been a great experience for me. Avon and I share a lot of the same passions for empowering and protecting women.
” It’s these kinds of lessons, as well as an innate head for business, that have helped her to be a bigger success than she ever set out to be. Sugarpova, which she originally intended to start slowly and to grow into a bigger business after she retired, has taken on a larger life of its own. Sugarpova is now sold in more than 30 countries, selling millions of bags a year, inking deals with Pinkberry to sell it as a topping and branded pop-up shops at tournaments.