Sharapova's retirement made countless tennis fans sigh, and the era of Russia's "Red Pink Army" came to an end. That is Sharapova, Kuznetsova, Petrova, Dementieva, Safina, Zvonareva, Pavlyuchenkova, Makarova, Kurnikova for Russia in the wta, they represent the glorious history of Eastern European tennis.
Among them, there is a player, whether it is the results or looks, can not be regarded as the top, but she is also a force that can not be ignored, she is Maria Kirilenko.
As a tennis player, Kirilenko's name is really not dazzling. Although kurnikova's achievements at the same time were not outstanding, she still impressed all advertisers and television media with her extraordinary beauty. Sharapova of the same age has won countless Grand Slam titles with her invincible skills, becoming a rare Full Slam winner in the tennis world.
If you don't believe you go to search for Kirilenko, it must be former NBA athlete Andre Kirilenko, but it can't be said that he has nothing to do with Maria Kirilenko: Andre, nicknamed "ak47", is Maria's cousin.
When Maria was young, her father loved tennis so much that he sent her to study tennis, but her father never wanted his daughter to become a professional player. However, good sports genes, coupled with the hard training of the day after tomorrow, soon made Maria stand out. In less than a year, she won her first tennis title.
In this way, Maria kept participating in the competition everywhere, and the champion naturally got the soft hand. At the age of 12, the famous Russian tennis coach Elena took a fancy to Maria's abilities and prepared to set up a special team to train her, and a plan that had never been done before was also put on the agenda: to become the best young tennis player in the world.
Maria Kirilenko, who started her career, clearly felt the strength of her opponent. At that time, in the professional women's tennis world, Veterans such as Maurice Mo and Davenport were still in a state of prestige, Henin and Christers were also fledgling, and the size of Wei gradually entered the peak. No one could compete with Maria, and even her friend Sharapova, who was the same age, crushed Kirilenko.
The first time to participate in a Grand Slam tournament, the French Open and Wimbledon were stopped in the first round, the Australian Open was even worse, even the qualifiers failed to break through, the US Open was slightly better, and it was only able to enter the second round.
At that time, Kirilenko was too far away from the Grand Slam champion, and the ranking was just right 100th. But she still has something to congratulate: In 2004, Kirilenko, a new professional, won the Birmingham Open doubles title with her friend Sharapova, which was Also Kirilenko's first heavyweight title.
After almost 5 or 6 years, Kirilenko has never won any heavyweight singles title, only relying on the occasional doubles title to prove that he still exists in women's professional tennis. For Chinese fans, the only memories that may be impressive are that she partnered with Chuan meizi Zheng Jie to win the 2010 San Diego Open doubles title.
In those years, although Kirilenko's results were not particularly outstanding, and the highest world ranking was only 20th, she still won the favor of many advertisers for her outstanding appearance. However, even the most beautiful jerseys have to have a long exposure to sell, and the premature game exit has also caused Kirilenko to lose a lot of sponsorship.
Sharapova, who is the same age, has won several Grand Slam singles titles, and the world ranking has been ranked first for many years, and advertising is even more overwhelming. Once friends, now seem so out of reach. However, she also won the bronze medal in women's doubles with Petrova at the London Olympics, and the 2013 world ranking climbed straight into the top ten.
In fact, Kirilenko's grades are not as good as Sharapova's, which may be the reason for the character. Although Russian, Kirilenko's character is not very tough, and perhaps this is why she can't take the key ball. Moreover, unlike other world-class athletes, she does not have her own killer skills, she is just a good player in all aspects, and this drawback also makes Kirilenko inferior in the confrontation with others.
Kirilenko did not focus entirely on tennis in his lifetime, but also dabbled in many fields such as classical music, literature, dance, cooking, etc., and his achievements were not low. Sometimes, Kirilenko will also show his footwork on the football field.
Perhaps, tennis is a complete love for Kirilenko, although she is a professional player, she has never made playing tennis her profession. If Kirilenko hadn't played tennis, maybe she would have been a very good ballet dancer. Even now, she often practices dance, especially ballet.
Kirilenko had a five-year relationship with tennis player Andreev, and then fell in love with Alexander Ovichkin, the winner of the 2004 North American Professional Hockey League and nicknamed "God of War". On January 24, 2015, the retired Russian sweetheart married a businessman named Alex and gave birth in July of that year.