Ten minutes with tennis superstar Maria Sharapova

Global tennis icon Maria Sharapova is in town for the Coca-Cola International Premier Tennis League, where she will team up with Andy Murray and other tennis stars on the Manila Mavericks in this unique, four-team competition. Hours before they were to debut against the UAE Royals in the kickoff leg at the Mall of Asia Arena, Sharapova sat down with Yahoo Philippines to talk about the IPTL, the sport of tennis, and the role of social media in her life. Excerpts:

Yahoo PH: Welcome to Manila.

Maria Sharapova: Thank you.

YPH: Before coming over, what had you heard about the Philippines?

MS: The Philippines has always been a place that I’ve wanted to visit. I always knew that I had a huge fan base in the Philippines, and it’s one of the biggest reasons why I came here. I usually don’t play too many exhibition matches in the off-season, but when I heard that I had the opportunity to come to Manila and play for my fans here, I thought it would be a great opportunity.

YPH: When you were first approached by the IPTL with this new concept, what attracted you to it and what can you say about this innovative format?

MS: When something is new, obviously you have a lot of questions and you’re not quite familiar with things and how it’s gonna go. But after a few different meetings one of my concerns was not playing for the whole tour which is quite long. Originally I just asked if I could play one match. They asked me kindly if I could play another one since I would already be here. So I agreed to play two. That’s usually the maximum that I would play in the off-season.

YPH: IPTL is breaking the code, and introducing new things to tennis. If you were in charge what’s the one thing you would change about tennis and how it’s played?

MS: It’s a bit of a tricky time because after a long season to expect so many athletes to come and perform at an incredibly high level for a longer period of time. I think that wouldn’t have been very smart. That’s why I think the concept is great. It’s fast. It’s five games to each set, which I think will make it quite fun and competitive. You also see your teammates on the side, which is unique in our sport. So I think these elements will bring out the entertainment side of the game, which I think is very important and sometimes a little bit lacking when you’re watching a match for over three hours.

YPH: It’s been 10 years since you won your first Grand Slam title (Wimbledon, 2004) and you recently won another Slam (Roland Garros, 2014). During those 10 years, what’s the biggest change that you’ve noticed in the sport?

MS: The sport itself has become much more physical. It’s much more demanding on the body. Taking care of your health and your body is much more important now than it was 10 years ago.

YPH: What’s the one thing that people don’t know about Maria Sharapova?

MS: (Laughs) I would say I’m relatively shy. It takes me a while to feel comfortable with an environment. But I’m quite outgoing when I’m around people that I know quite well. And I enjoy having a good time. I enjoy doing karaoke.

YPH: What’s your favorite song?

MS: I like singing to Cher (songs).

YPH: Can we play a little word association game?

MS: Okay.

YPH: I’ll give the name of a player and the first word or adjective that comes to mind, just say it.

MS: All right.

YPH: Serena Williams.

MS: Great competitor.

YPH: Novak Djokovic.

MS: Fun guy.

YPH: Roger Federer.

MS: King of tennis.

YPH: Rafa Nadal.

MS: Fun to watch.

YPH: Li Na.

MS: Wow. Let’s see now. She’s so many adjectives. An ambassador.

YPH: Martina Navratilova.

MS: Legend.

YPH: Victoria Azarenka.

MS: Great competitor.

YPH: Andy Murray.

MS: Talent.

YPH: Who were your idols growing up?

MS: I didn’t have one particular person that I admired. I enjoyed watching tennis, event though I didn’t watch much on TV, but I enjoyed watching Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. Those two were probably my favorites to watch.

YPH: When did you decide that you wanted to become a tennis player?

MS: I think when I moved to the United States. I was seven years old and we moved because of tennis. At that point I realized that this is something serious and eventually something that I’d do in my career.

YPH: When you started playing, when did you realize that “Hey, I can do this pretty well. I might become no. 1 and win some Grand Slams.”?

MS: When you’re young, you’re playing in smaller tournament and juniors. I think when I was 12 or maybe 13 or 14 I found myself playing under-18s or playing up because the level at 14, I was quite strong for it. Little by little, you start realizing the competition that you can take on, kind of of believing in yourself and in your game and seeing your progression. And that point you kind of start realizing, “I can be good at this one day.”

YPH: You’re one of a handful of players who have won all the Grand Slams at least once. Do you approach each Grand Slam differently in terms of preparation?

MS: Yeah, definitely. Each one has its own prestige, and I always go into each one of them just really excited and inspired because it’s a big stage for every athlete, something that we work for for a long time. It depends on the match, depends how you feel, where you are, where your game is, also on the surface and how you visualize yourself playing out there. So of course you treat each Grand Slam with a little bit of a different mindset.

YPH: What’s the toughest one to win?

MS: There’s nothing easy, that’s why it’s so special to be a champion.

YPH: What was the most memorable?

MS: I’d have to say I have to respect each victory that I’ve had in Grand Slams because they’ve all come in different stages over the course of the last 10 years in my career. And it was very different, from winning Wimbledon at 17 years old in a moment where it was unexpected of me to do that, to coming back from shoulder injury and winning Roland Garros, a Grand Slam that no one believed that I could win. It’s tough to choose which one is more memorable at this point.

YPH: Here’s a question from one of our Twitter followers. What other sport aside from tennis do you enjoy watching and who is your non-tennis sporting idol?

MS: (Laughs) I enjoy watching basketball. I like fast-paced sports. Michael Jordan was someone that I looked up to not just for what he did on the court which is incredible, but everything that he’s done afterwards and the inspiration that he’s had.

YPH: Another Twitter question: What can you do to bring more top players to promote our country as a year-round tennis capital?

MS: I think this is a great step in doing that. From bringing in an event like this, I can see from social media how big it is for this country and for the city itself. Watching tennis live and real is such a different experience than seeing it on television and I hope that they get inspired from this occasion and maybe hopefully in the future you’ll see us playing a tournament here.

YPH: It’s good you mentioned social media because you’re one of the more active athletes on social media. How has this helped you, being the global icon that you are? How do you handle it?

MS: I enjoy social media because it gives me a chance to feel closer to my fans, and for them as well. They only see you perform on the court or doing interviews or in pictures. It makes the experience more personal when you’re able to share some things of your life that other people don’t see. I treat my Facebook and Instagram quite different, as well as Twitter. I like to give audiences a different perspective of my life. And I think that’s why I’m quite successful on social media, because I’ve been doing it all on my own for many years. Some people can really see that and they appreciate that.