Jun 22 2004

By Simon Kinnersley


WITH her flaxen hair, perfect complexion and endless legs, it's little wonder Maria Sharapova has been dubbed the new Anna Kournikova.

But the 17-year-old Russian doesn't like the title one bit. In fact, she goes so far as to say her countrywoman is not only a has-been, but a never-was.

"I'm not the new anyone, and certainly not the new Kournikova," she snaps. "People seem to forget that Anna isn't in the picture any more, it's Maria time now.

"You can't compare us. She never won a single tournament, and I've won two already. Besides, I intend having a lot longer career than she did."

And the truth is that since she burst onto the scene, Sharapova's on-court performances have been the focus of attention rather more than her sponsorship deals and love life.

"It's not something that interests me," explains Maria - who nevertheless does have a small modelling contract. "Being a tennis babe doesn't do it for me. If that's what people are hoping for, then I'm afraid they're going to be disappointed.

"Of course I like to look good on court, but I'm there to play tennis and win, not to look sexy.

"People like to ask me if I have a role model. I suppose they think I'm going to say 'Anna'. That she showed me what a Russian girl like me could do, inspired me, and made me believe that I could do it too.

"Actually, I've never had a role model. I've driven myself because it's something that I want to achieve."

And those achievements are starting to pile up. In her second year on the circuit, she is already in the top 20, recently reaching the last eight of the French Open. Pundits agree that having reached the fourth round of Wimbledon last year, she is going to be one to watch.

Yesterday she won her first match in the tournament in straight sets. But when she stepped out at the All England Club, few knew of the heartache it had taken to get there.

The opportunity to join a tennis school in Florida at the age of nine was a dream come true - especially after an impoverished childhood in her native Nyagan in Siberia.

But what none of her family had signed up for was the homesickness and isolation she was to endure. As Maria and her father stepped onto the plane, with the family savings of £600, she kissed goodbye to her mother. Fourteen hours later she found herself in a country where she spoke not one word of the language.

It would be two years before she would see her mother again.

She became a boarder at Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy, while her father found a job as a tennis coach more than an hour's drive away.

"I was so lonely," Maria recalls. "I missed my mother terribly. My father was working as much as he could, so he couldn't see me.

"The Academy didn't know that some of the girls made my life wretched. They were all about 17 and were really rough on me, they just bullied me all the time.

"Because I was so young, I used to go to bed at 8pm, and they'd come in at 11pm and wake me up and tell me to tidy up the room and clean it. I'd love to meet those bullies now and tell them what I think of them.

"But it toughened me up, and I learnt how to take care of myself. I never thought about quitting because I knew what I wanted. When you come from nothing and you have nothing, then it makes you very hungry and determined. I would have put up with much more than that to make it."

The episode created an exceptionally strong bond with her father. Not only does he share the coaching duties, but he's with her at every tournament, supporting and guiding her.

"I can't imagine playing a match without him being there. My father pushes me very hard, he's very tough and demands a lot of me - but he always listens to what I have to say."

IT wasn't until she came to Wimbledon last summer that she really began to realise that her life had changed for ever.

"I was walking down the street in London and all these guys were staring at me. It was so weird.

"It really took me by surprise. I know I'm not ugly, so I didn't know whether they were staring at me because they thought I looked OK, or because they'd seen me on television.

"But what I did know is that the way people see me had changed. I thought it would take much longer to get to where I am now. After all, a year ago, I was the new girl. But I don't feel any great burden because, when you start playing and doing quite well at four, then it has always been there."

However hard she may fight the Kournikova mould, the fact remains that Sharapova is a marketing man's dream. She's photogenic, articulate and multi-lingual, and is still studying.

"I don't think about contracts or endorsement deals," she insists. "I know that it's part of the business, but what concerns me is winning. Of course, money is a motivation. Tennis is a business and a sport, but the most important thing is to become number one in the world. That's the dream that kept me going.

"Although I'm interested in fashion, I'm not remotely interested in modelling. It's boring."

It's also something Anna Kournikova did rather well. But Sharapova would rather be in Centre Court