Marketing Machine Maria Sharapova Will Not Defend WTA Ponte Vedra Beach TitlePosted on March 30, 2009 Maria Sharapova, who has yet to compete in singles this year on the WTA Tour after a choppy recovery from a shoulder injury, will not defend her title at The MPS Group Championships in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Sharapova captured the title last year before the tournament moved and changed sponsorship from the former Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island.
According to the SportsBusiness Journal, Sharapova will be in Los Angeles next week when The MPS Group Championships will be contested at the Sawgrass County Club in Ponte Vedra Beach. Beginning April 6 in Los Angeles, Sharapova is scheduled to do photo shoots for her sponsors Nike, Cole Haan, Canon, and a yet-to-be-identified shampoo company. She will also shoot a cover for a story in ESPN The Magazine. She is scheduled to return to her home state of Florida April 10 to resume training for the WTA Rome event at the beginning of May. Sharapova is missing the Sony Ericsson Open this week in Miami, and has watched her ranking tumble to No. 30 since undergoing rotator cuff surgery. She played doubles-only at the prior WTA Tour event in Indian Wells, but lost in the opening round. Sharapova makes approximately $30 million a year, mostly through endorsements. "Let's say you want a global female athlete," her agent, Max Eisenbud, told the SportsBusiness Journal. "It's really just Maria. She is global because tennis is global...Not to take anything away from Venus and Serena [Williams], they are great champions, but they don't mean as much, say, in Korea as Maria does." |
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