Maria Sharapova is not defending her Cincinnati title this week, missing her second straight tournament after the Olympic silver, due to a stomach virus. However, you know the Russian always has her hands full and during the time off the tennis courts she is launching her line of candy called Sugarpova.
On her Facebook page, Sharapova gave us a glimpse of how the sweets will look and invited everyone to join her on August 20th at Henri Bendel on 5th Avenue. For those not in New York, Sharapova ensured a live stream on her official website.
Have to love those Facebook comments! One commentator hopes that the candy will make Sharapova stronger and more cheerful. 🙂
Maria next time crush those Williams sisters with your game, I hate their winning against you. Eat some chocolate and be lively, you look too cold, like your country Russia, cheer up.
As someone who is impartial, launching a candy brand is not likely to put her into the same league as the Williams, certainly not Serena who is an all time great .
As someone who is really impartial, Maria is in a higher league than Serena. Maria earns more money than any other female athlete in the world and has for years. She and Venus have never embarassed themselves or the WTA. They are wonderful role models and ambassadors for tennis. Maria is younger and is already the most famous female player of her generation.
“[Serena]and Venus have never embarassed [sic] themselves or the WTA.” What a great comic relief within the otherwise all-too-serious, dramatic content of this blog! Laughing my head off all the way to the bed, mate. B.
Tulp, by “she” I meant Maria and Venus have never embarrassed… “They” also ment Maria and Venus.
Sorry I didn’t make that clear. The way you read it would have been very funny. Sorry. Here is the way I meant it to be understood:
As someone who is really impartial, Maria is in a higher league than Serena. Maria earns more money than any other female athlete in the world and has for years. Maria and Venus have never embarrassed themselves or the WTA. Maria and Venus are wonderful role models and ambassadors for tennis. Maria is younger and is already the most famous female player of her generation.
Took poor JohnnyB multiple attempts but he finally got his little zinger in there. Why is it that the accomplishments of one player should be compared to the accomplishments of another player? This is a tennis site and a tennis site specifically about female tennis players. Frankly speaking I think Sharapova would wish she had the tennis career of Serena Williams, h2h, win/loss percentages, dramatic meltdowns; dramatic comebacks from match points down, icon of the sport; player that sits on the Player’s Council; loved and hated by all and sundry; crowd pleaser; owner of the best shot ever seen in women’s tennis.
Sharapova beats Serena in off court accomplishments simply by the colour of her skin and that is what Madison Avenue and advertisers want. Frankly, it says more about how society looks down on accomplished women of colour than it does about Sharapova and her potential to sell products.
I was only responding to Des Platt’s comment comparing the three players. But here comes Tennis Ace playing the race card. I really feel sorry for you that you can even think what you wrote is true. Serena has only herself and her actions to blame for not being the best paid woman athlete in the world. If dropping out of tennis for long stretches, not showing up at committed and required tournaments, and her bored with tennis attitude isn’t a turn off for advertisers, then verbally attacking an official at the US Open using filthy language heard on prime time TV by every child and adult tennis fan in the USA is definitely not going to win her sponsors. Maria may be white but she isn’t even an American according to most – she is Russian, the country many Americans love to hate. It is amazing that poor girls born in Compton and a poor girl born in Siberia could rise so high in the world – all thanks to tennis.
JohnnyB, if you think that the 2009 USO incident is the reason why Serena is not well paid then you are way too delusional. I did not realise that Serena’s career started in 2009? Thought it was way before that. As to her attitude, at least Serena is still around unlike those who come and go (looking at you Clijsters and Henin) because the Tour is too grinding. Clearly, we have short memories at the way in which those who are allegedly committed to the Tour just waltzed out of the Tour like it was no one’s business and then waltzed back in as if they don’t have a care in the world.
At the height of her powers, with so many fans loving to see her play, Henin upped and retired from the sport in 2008. The year before that while many fans were waiting to see her play Wimbledon, Kim upped and retired. Now Kim is about to retire again and what does she do, decide that she is only playing the Majors and the Olympics. If that is not disrespect to the sport, I don’t know what is.
When every other player cries injury, everyone believes them, yet when Serena and Venus cry injury it is because they have no love for the sport or they disrespecting fans. Which is it? It is either a player is injured or they are not. Not all players have a well read publicity machine or have journalists and bloggers who are paid to say nice things about them.
Women’s tennis is not open. It is as shut as ever. Women are not valued for their accomplishments but more for how they look. When male players want to play mixed with a player, not because of her accomplishments but because of how she looks, then your value as a pro athlete is severely devalued.
This is not what Billie Jean and others fought for. They fought that women would have an equal share in the profits of tennis, not because of their beauty, but because of their accomplishments. Serena should not be judged on 1 incident over a 15 year career. She has done more to popularise women’s tennis than many who earn far more than she does. And no I did not play the race card. I stated facts
Tennis Ace, I disagree with your facts. First you group Venus and Serena together. That is very unfair to Venus. You also infer that Serena isn’t beautiful which I reject. I also reject the notion that beauty is somehow involved in those women who play outstanding tennis. Good looking people, male and female, are most likely to succeed in life. You sound sexist pointing out just women are judged by their beauty when it works that way for both genders.
Serena has had way more than “1 incident over a 15 year career”. She has had 2 very ugly incidents at the US Open alone. She has skipped many tournaments letting down the sponsers. She has shown up at some only to lose in the first round to collect her appearance fee. She has been caught faking injuries to get out of playing. She still refuses to play Indian Wells, a required tournament, and her home tournament at Carson which moved to Carlsbad because she wouldn’t play there. I’m no Serena hater, but I have followed her entire career. She hasn’t lived up to her potential. But at this stage in her life, motivated by the quite real injury and threat on her life, she is playing her best tennis ever. I hope she continues and reclaims the #1 ranking.
You are so far off base on your racist comment about Madison Avenue. Do you have no knowledge of Michael Jordan and how much he made and still makes on endorsements? There are many other examples of people who are not white making it big on Madison Avenue. Tiger Woods is an excellent example of a person with the biggest endorsements until hurt by his personal problems. Your attack on Kim Clijsters is way off base. It shows you know nothing of her personal life, career or standing with her fans and the WTA. There is NO current player who has given so much of herself to her sport.