Maria Sharapova opens up about emotional 5 A.M. moment with her father after Wimbledon triumph and his words she will never forget

Russian tennis icon Maria Sharapova recently shared her emotional thoughts on how her father, Yuri Sharapova, celebrated her first major win of her career, the 2004 Wimbledon Championships. Sharapova cemented her name in the sport by winning the major title at the age of 17 after surpassing Serena Williams, who was the two-time defending champion.

Maria Sharapova is widely known as one of the top women's tennis players and has won 36 WTA Tour singles titles, including five major titles. She became the first Russian woman player to reach the No.1 spot in singles ranking and is one of the ten players to achieve a career Grand Slam (winning all four major championships in a single year) in singles.

During her recent appearance on former American tennis star Andy Roddick's podcast, 'Andy Roddick's Served Media', the Nyagan, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union native shared an emotional moment with her father after winning the 2004 Wimbledon Championships.

"The morning after, where my father had been partying with his friends the entire night and came up. We were in a bed and breakfast with a family and we were in the top unit of this home in the Wimbledon village. I went back to my room after the Wimbledon Ball, and then, my father came up with all these newspapers at 5:00 a.m. And he just threw them on the ground and he's like, "We did it,"" she shared (37:58 onwards)

She continued:

"That moment is that was everything that put my entire, all the work, all the sacrifice, all the sweat and the tears and the laughs and my dad just had this fun night and he comes home and his daughter is on the cover of all these papers and it's this proud moment that you're like okay this is why I put in the work."

Throughout her decorated career, Maria Sharapova was endorsed by multiple top-notch brands, including Land Rover, Canon, Tag Heuer, and jeweller brand Tiffany & Co. She was also considered one of the highest-paid female athletes in the world by Forbes.

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What has Maria Sharapova been upto following her retirement from tennis?

Maria Sharapova at Collision 2024 - Day Two - Source: Getty

After retiring from tennis in 2020, Maria Sharapova has shifted her focus to her business and is now a successful entrepreneur. In 2012, she launched her confectionery brand, 'Sugarpova', which was last valued at over $187 million as per AS USA.

She has also invested in the sunscreen brand 'Supergoop', whose majority share was bought by Blackstone, the global investment firm. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of 'Moncler', which is an Italian luxury fashion brand.

In 2016, Sharapova was honoured with the highest order of the Russian Federation, 'Order For Merit to the Fatherland'.