Beauty and future tennis player maria y. sharapova was born in the distant siberian town of nyagan. this happened on april 19, 1987. parents masha yuri viktorovich and elena petrovna sharapov were born and grew up in belarus gomel. but they decided to leave the city a few months before the birth of their daughter. this decision was dictated by the close distance of gomel to chernobyl, which became a source of environmental pollution and radiation. masha was born in a safe and clean area, and soon the family moved to the south, choosing to live in sochi. masha started tennis very early. at the age of four, the girl already knew how to hold a racket. there is information that evgeny kafelnikov himself presented the first racket to the future champion. the father of the legendary russian tennis player was friends with masha's father yuri sharapov.
