Siberian beauty Maria Sharapova becomes world's No.1

Sharapova gains $22 million of annual profits with the help of her commercial contracts

Maria Sharapova has finally become world's No. 1 on Monday, as she officially replaced Lindsay Davenport from this position at the top of the WTA rating. Maria's achievements at WTA tournaments over the recent 52 weeks turned out to be best amid all other female tennis players. Sharapova has become the 15th player, who topped the WTA rankings since 1975. The also became the first Russian tennis player to reach the top of the world tennis.

World's best tennis player, Maria Sharapova: Photo gallery

Maria Sharapova started her career in 2002, on the 532nd line of the world tennis rating. Sharapova has won 133 tennis matches during four years and four months, which have passed since that time. The Siberian girl became the Champion of Wimbledon in 2004, won the final WTA 2004 Championship and became the best tennis player of 2004. At age 18 Maria Sharapova joined the list of such respectable players as Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Tracy Austin, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin-Hardenne and Amelie Mauresmo.

According to the new WTA rating, which has been published today, Sharapova leaves injured Lindsay Davenport behind. The American player, however, can retrieve her leadership if she wins the forthcoming tournament in New Haven. Such a probability is not relevant now, for Sharapova will remain in history anyway.

Sharapova does not play tennis presently: she currently recovers fro traumas at home. The WTA ranking system, however, placed her on the throne of women's tennis. A similar situation occurred to Yevgeny Kafelnikov in 1999. Once he won Australia Open, Kafelnikov was playing poorly in the spring of that year, losing almost all tournaments. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, however, became world's number one on account of Pete Sampras's injury. Sampras returned to the top six weeks later.

The similarity does not mean, however, that Lindsay Davenport will leave Maria Sharapova behind again. Sharapova is a very strong contender for the title of the best tennis player in the world among women. Sharapova's future perspective and opportunities have no limits at the girl's very young age. More importantly, the “queen of tennis court moaning” is determined to reach her goals at all costs. To crown it all, it has been quite a while when Lindsay won a Grand Slam tournament, although Sharapova won Wimbledon last year.

Furthermore, the whole world wants Maria Sharapova to be the best. The Russian beauty with Hollywood looks – that can be better for advertisers? The Siberian star only needs to play tennis and win. Sharapova gains $22 million of annual profits with the help of her contracts with Motorola, Canon, Colgate-Palmolive and Parlax. Her earnings made Sharapova world's highest-paid athlete too.