Sharapova’s father, Yuri, moved the family to Florida in 1994.
Maria Sharapova’s father, Yuri, is a former professional tennis player who won the Russian national championship in 1987. He also had a brief stint on the ATP tour and was ranked as high as No. 144 in singles and No. 70 in doubles. In 1994, Yuri decided to move his family from Siberia to Florida so that he could train at Nick Bollettieri’s famous tennis academy. At the time of their move, Maria was just nine years old and didn’t speak any English.
Yuri was not only hoping that his daughter would become a tennis champion one day but also that she would help him make money by playing exhibition matches with him around the world. Maria began playing tennis at age four but her first love was basketball.
However, after being told by her parents that she could only play one sport at a time and having seen how much they struggled financially after moving to America, Maria gave up basketball for tennis.
