Maria Sharapova has celebrated great successes in her tennis career and can call five Grand Slam titles her own. Besides, the Russian is also an extremely successful businesswoman.
Many tennis stars on the ATP- and WTA-Tour are not only engaged in their main profession as professional sportsmen but also in other business ideas. Whether their own fashion lines or specially developed foods – the project field is wide open to athletes.
Thus also ex-number one Maria Sharapova devotes herself part-time to some projects. Probably the most famous is the sweets line of the five-time Major winner named “Sugarpova”. The product has been on the market since 2012 and can be purchased by everyone.
But how much is Sharapova really involved in the projects? Max Eisenbud, the manager of the 31-year-old, answered in an interview with Entrepreneur: “She asks questions all the time, meets with her partners and the people involved. She really tries to understand what is being done and how people are implementing the projects. Then she looks at them and says, “No, I can do better than that. It’s really amazing.”
As on the tennis court, Sharapova is also extremely ambitious in business life, Eisenbud explained. So his puzzle pieces also coincided to Sugarpova. “She came to me and said that she liked the cooperations but wanted to make her own decisions. She said, “I don’t want 5%, I want 100%,’ and so we started Sugarpova,” the Sharapova manager continued.
Eisenbud, who is also Vice President of the legendary IMG Academy in Florida, went one step further and said that his protégé would be more successful in the business world than Sharapova would have as a player: “I think she will be a better businesswoman than a tennis player.