Maria Sharapova

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0:26One of the most successful female tennis players of the 21st century is Maria Sharapova. She won Wimbledon at the age of 17 and won a total of five grand slams. Now she's retired from tennis and pursuing a career as an investor. I had a chance recently to sit down with her and talk about her new career and her old career. You were recently inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and the person who inducted you was Serena Williams, who you played many times and was your principal competitor. Was it awkward being inducted by her, or was it fun? Awkward wasn't the right word, David. It was so exciting and it was so thrilling.

1:06Were you surprised that she agreed to do it? Well, that would have been awkward because that is a call that I made and I said, well, there's no one else. I'd rather be on that stage than you. And she said, I'm honored. But it could have gone the other way. It didn't, thankfully. And she was incredible. She was very thoughtful. Her speech was really strong, but it was also very personal. And there's that moment when she walked on stage of like five to 10 seconds when the crowd, there was like a bit of silence and shock and this wave through the crowd. And I was like, I think we achieved what we wanted to achieve here.

1:46So let's talk about what it's like to be the number one tennis player in the world. Your number one female tennis player in the world. And you were for many years number one and you won many singles titles includes wimbledon at the age of 17 seems like an ungodly young age to win it was a long time ago just confirming by the way when you won at wimbledon at age 17 i mean did your world completely change did you i mean you were so young then and you weren't the number one ranked player at that time did you were you surprised and what did you do did you call your parents were they there um i did call my mom she was actually on her way to New York to meet me because I was then going to fly to New York for some press engagement, and she saw me win on television while I was playing the Wimbledon final.

2:32And what changed? Well, a lot changes for the good and for the bad in that moment. You're such a young girl and all the things that come with it that you've never really expected in your life. You know, an opportunity to say yes to so many things when actually you should be saying no and getting back on the horse and doing the things that made you a champion on that day because while you're winning, everyone else is training to beat you in the next tournament. I flew back to Los Angeles shortly afterwards because my coach was there, and my family and I used to stay when we visit him. We didn't have that much money at the time, but we'd stayed in one of these hotels, and after I won Wimbledon, my agent upgraded us to a hotel, and it had this like yellow rubber duck next to the bath.

3:19And I called him and I said, winning Wimbledon is the best thing that's ever happened to me. And that's coming from a teenager's perspective. So no more Holiday Inn Express or something? That was exactly the hotel we stayed at prior to winning Wimbledon. Not an ad. In New York, you have to play at night. Was that a problem playing at nights in New York? I was intimidated by the night match in New York. Yeah, it was loud. It was, I'm also someone, I'm like quite an introvert and I, you know, I love to do my work and I love to be with my team. And so like going through that tunnel where, you know, Billie Jean King's quote is pressure is a privilege.

3:57It was like very intimidating. And then the noise and the crowd and you never really had a restful moment in New York, but I embraced it. Yeah, I loved it. And then we started doing, like, I worked with Nike for many years, and they created first-ever athlete that wore a separate dress for a night match. They created for me, it was an Audrey Hepburn dress. And I think I just got comfortable with the environment of playing a night match. So when you win Wimbledon, obviously you're excited. You're only 17 years old. Was there any match that could ever replicate that feeling of winning at Wimbledon at 17?

4:36You won other championships. Was there anything ever comparable to that even? Winning the French Open to achieve a career Grand Slam, I didn't think that I would feel like the strength of that victory, but it really felt good because it was a surface that was so challenging, and it exposed all my weaknesses. and as an athlete that is playing in front of thousands of people when you know that there is a particular weakness in your game and you're able to turn that around in front of people and make that into one of your strengths was a really strong moment. Well, when you were playing tennis, you were making more money from endorsements than from the prize money.

5:15And I think for like 17 years in a row or 18 years in a row, you were the highest paid female athlete when you take into account endorsements and other things. So you kind of made yourself into a brand. Did you consciously say, I'm going to be a brand more than just an athlete? And was that hard to do? Or you were just focused on the athletics and the other things that just came along? As a female athlete, I was very well aware that at a certain point in my career, whether it was injury-related, whether I would want to start a family, whether I'd just lose interest in the sport, I knew that the day would come to call it quits.

5:51and it would come sooner than other professions. And I made a very conscious effort of setting up a platform and a foundation that would make me feel going into a second chapter of anyone's career, whether you're an athlete or just coming from college and you're moving on to a new chapter in your life, is really, really challenging. And I knew that it was going to be important for me to feel like I have a strong foundation in order to grow in another chapter. Now you're at the top of the game in tennis for quite some time, and now you're in the business world. You're on the board of Montclair.

6:26When you go on the board meetings now, do they say, well, she's a former athlete. You don't expect her to know much about the business world, or do they actually say, we want to hear your opinion on the business side of it? And do you bone up on the business side, and how actively are you involved in the board meetings? Yeah, I was very intimidated by the role. I was intimidated that I was asked in the first place. I knew Rama Ruffini for several years. And it's very official. It's like a UN meeting. You're sitting around this large. I mean, you've attended several board meetings in your life, but this is one of my first.

6:58And there's a microphone and it's translation because it's an Italian public trading company. So there's definitely like an intimidating factor to it, but they're all very collaborative. I selfishly took on the role because I felt like I could learn from a lot of people sitting in that room. And I feel like that's kind of been the trajectory of my career is even though I was passionate and so deeply involved in one thing, I stayed really open-minded and curious about other things. I let other people kind of guide my education because I didn't have a formal education. So I feel like this is the role.

7:31So if somebody's watching this and they say, I have a company that would benefit from having you on the board, are you open to going on other boards? And if you go on a board, would you want to invest in the company or you just want to be on the board? it depends on the company i mean you're really throwing me on the spot what's the company give me an example well um i don't know let's suppose uh bernard arnault calls you up and says lvmh needs you on the board i guess you would probably say that might be a attractive one yeah that's a no-brainer okay that's a very easy test though okay well now do you invest in companies from

8:07I do. Yeah. So do you test the brands before to make sure you actually like the brand? How do you decide you're going to invest or not? Yeah. One of my first investments was when I felt like I had financial security from endorsement deals. And I was using an SPF brand called Supergoop for many years. Bought it at Sephora myself. And found the founder. They were five employees at the time. And said, look, I don't need a return on investment right now. I'll use my platform. I love your product. And then seven to nine years later, they sold 75 % of their company for$750 million. So that was like my first real investment in the space.

8:51And it did really well for me. And it was a testament to what I think is important in investment. And correct me if I'm wrong, is like being passionate about what you're investing in. Being a consumer, making sure that everyone around you is a consumer and a strong team. How do you compare the thrill of being in the business world where you're either endorsing products or investing in products with playing tennis? There's no match point in business, right? There's no that like feeling of, okay, now I either, this one point is on the line. I've gotten to this point and it's make or break. So much will change.

9:30Like there's none of that getting on your knees and waving to the crowd, you know. And yes, I miss those memories. I miss those moments. But the adjustment period of working through deals and getting to know founders and taking chances on people who you've only know a certain amount of time is very similar to my sport and what I had to endure for many years. So although there are similarities, there's not that like moment of victory. Our sponsor, Wells Fargo, recently spoke to Christian Strack, president of PIMCO, about how the fixed income investment manager is helping clients build portfolios for the future.

10:05We are in a moment of radical change in technology and finance. Those will bring radical risks and radical new opportunities. We wanted to look back and say that we have brought clients these opportunities in these times of change, but also helped clients understand the risks along the way. With Wells Fargo, it really is a partnership around complementary capabilities. Discover how Wells Fargo is helping PIMCO and other clients reach the next horizon at Bloomberg.com slash The Next Horizon. When you were playing tennis, let's go back to the beginning. You were born in Russia. Siberia, yeah. And now I'm being interviewed by you.

10:45It's so cool. You were born in Russia, but your parents moved you and your family out of there when you were relatively young. Is that right? Yes. I was born in Siberia. When I was two, we moved to Sochi, which is in the Black Sea. And when I was five and a half years old, we moved to Florida with my father. So now you went there because you wanted to play tennis. Is that right or not? I mean, at five and a half, you're not really the one that's making decisions. I have a three-year-old. But at five and a half. Even though he acts like he wants me, he knows everything. Did your parents see a new athletic skill at five and a half?

11:19That's so young. Were you actually playing tennis before? And when did they say, we should move to Florida and you can be a better tennis player? So I started when I was four, and I started playing tennis when I was four. And at five and a half, my father took me to this exhibition in Moscow. He saved up a little bit of money. We took the train from Sochi. And Martina Navratilova was holding like a kid's tennis clinic, and there are a few hundred kids. and she pulled my father aside and said, your daughter has talent and you should go somewhere where this talent can be developed. And my father read every newspaper articles.

11:55He saw that the Williams sisters were training in Florida. He saw that Anna Kournikova was training in Florida. And he's like, our path is going to Florida. Did he have the money to do all that? Not a lot. He landed with$700 in his Levi's. So he just came over with you. Your mother stayed behind? Yeah, she stayed behind for two years. She couldn't get a visa for the first two years. And how did he explain you were only five and a half? How did he explain that your mother was staying behind and he was coming over with you? We didn't know that at the time because we thought she'd come over sooner.

12:20But then. And so you joined a tennis academy? We went to Balletaria, which is a famous academy. We knocked on their door like middle of the night, said, we're here. They're like, well, where's your money? We're like, we don't have any. And the coaches, they welcomed me into a program. And then I went off to center court after they saw me play and I got a scholarship. Okay, so you got a scholarship, but at what point did you realize you actually were pretty good? I mean, not just a person who says, I'm five and a half, I'm good. Lots of little kids at five and a half say they're good. When did you realize you really were better than the average five and a half year old?

12:54I never allowed myself to say that. So when you became a teenager, were you beating other teenagers at Volatari? The thing about being a young athlete is the process is you want to play against people that make you realize that you have weaknesses in your game. So you set yourself up against competition that is either older or stronger or better. And so if you feel like you're constantly winning, you're not learning much. And I found that even winning when you're a teenager, winning your 20s, that's not when you're doing your best work. When you're doing your best work is when you get off the court and you've just lost and you have to face your team and you have to get back to the drawing board and say, well I mean we have to figure it out because we thought we were going to have a great day well do you ever say to yourself you know I really would rather do something else at 7 8 9 10 11 12 tennis isn't I you know saw the young players get burned out you probably saw that at voluntary they burn out the parents take them there and after a while they say I don't really want to do this you never got burnout right I loved what I did I love being first in line I loved having the lesson at 6 a.m.

14:03because that I love the feeling of like there's like a physical exhaustion as an athlete at the end of the day where you do everything that's in your capacity to be better and as a female I just I really related to if I can get a little better five percent one percent half percent then I feel like I did great at what point did you realize you could be a champion when you're 14 15 when do you realize you could be a champion as opposed to I'm going to be reasonably good? I never allowed myself to believe that I could be a champion because I always did my best work when I felt like I was going to jump off the cliff, like things weren't working well because I had to keep proving to myself that I needed to work for it even harder, even deeper.

14:50I needed to dig deeper. It's hard in tennis. You're playing 10 months out of the year, and you may win a Grand Slam, but in a few weeks you have another one. So you feel like you're on top of the world and a few weeks later you can be, you know, you're in the press room and everyone's ridiculing you for losing the first round. Now when you're playing tennis, at the end of a match, if you lose or win, the players go, they shake hands, they hug each other, whatever they do. Rarely hug each other, but yes. But you really don't like the other person. Is it hard to kind of pretend you're like them when you're hugging them or is that, you get used to that?

15:23I was pretty honest about just about the relationship of being an athlete to another athlete. Like I always found it really difficult of sharing this thought of, oh, why don't we have a drink or go out to dinner and have an appetizer? Like when I'm trying to really beat you the next day and I'm going to pump my fist in your face. But then I'm going to give you a hug after. It just never really made sense. So like in the locker rooms before the matches, you're in the locker room with the people you're about to play. Do you have small talk with them or you just don't talk with them because you're trying to remember you're going to beat them?

15:58Do you talk to them or you don't do anything? Yeah, small talk wasn't my specialty, I'll be honest. I was very focused and I was very like the locker room was my office and I wouldn't spend much time there. I was in and out. I treated it as a really important profession. So today, you don't play tennis at all? I don't. No pro-ams? My friends don't want to play with me. Well, but I assume you get invited to pro-ams all the time, and you don't want to do those kind of things? I guess the honest answer is I don't want to be a sad version of my old self. like I knew like what I loved about the sport was how how quick it was how reactive it was how powerful it was when you don't play it for a long time you don't you don't have you know you don't have that anymore well have you ever played mixed doubles I wasn't very good at mixed doubles well I wasn't very good at sharing well if you ever wanted to play mixed doubles we could have a I could show up you come to my house okay court and we would pretend that you're just an average person who's visiting for the weekend.

17:05Okay. And then we'll just see if we can win some money that way. Do you just have one quart? I have one quart per house, yeah.

17:15It was kind of the answer I wanted to get from him. So at any point in your tennis career, did you say, I've had enough and I'm just going to retire at the top? Or how much, athletes sometimes stay a little bit longer than they should. You didn't do that, but did you ever worry about that problem, staying too long? It's a great question. and it's one that I think every athlete finds a different answer to. Mine came a little bit later than when I would have liked. I think stubbornness was a great quality that shaped a lot of my victories, but in the end of my career, I think it became a flaw because I was so stubborn to get healthy, for my shoulder to recover.

17:57I was also at an age where just my body didn't recover as quickly, And so for a year or two, that stubbornness got in the way of other great things in my life. Were your parents athletes themselves? My father thinks he's an athlete. Was he a competitive athlete? I think most fathers can occasionally relate that they're great athletes. Did he play any sport that we would have heard of? He played hockey. He now cycles around the world. Yeah, I mean, he still thinks he's like in the Senior Olympics. Obviously, you're tall. You're 6 '2". That's accurate. Okay, 6 '2". Okay, so there aren't that many female tennis players that are 6 '2".

18:36There may be a few. So when did you realize you had the physical strength and height to really be a really great player? Was that when you were 12, 13, 14? I didn't, I don't think I realized like the advantage that I'd have if I was taller. And I didn't grow until I won Wimbledon. I was still, I was like average height and I was still growing through that time. But I do remember my father thinking, okay, it would be better if she grew. So before I went to sleep, they hung a rod at the door for like 30 seconds before I went to sleep. Because my parents would say, well, when you're sleeping is when your body's developing and you're growing.

19:14So they kind of made me stretch my body. So, ta-da! Okay. Did you have siblings? I didn't have siblings, no. Okay. I'm an only child myself. It's great. What? It's great. I loved it. I still do. What would you say is the thing you're most proud of having done as a tennis player? Was it winning Wimbledon? What was the highlight of your tennis career? I'd say consistency. I think consistency is, you can have results and they could, you know, come at different various times in your career. But I was consistent for many years. And you have to show up. You don't just show up to play first round of the finals, but you have to show up for press conferences after, before every match, before every tournament.

19:57And just the consistency and the mental wear and tear of showing up week in, week out. So I felt like I consistently showed up for my team, for my sponsors, and for a long period of time, I'd say that as I look back, I'm proud of that. When you're just watching tennis as an observer, who do you like to watch over, let's say, the last 10 or 20 years? Are there certain players who have such style or such athletic ability, you just like watching them just as a fan? Who would that be? I think I've really enjoyed watching the sport from a completely zoomed out perspective. I never allowed myself. Like when I was playing, they started like engaging fans in these fan experiences.

20:42Like that was an entirely new world for me. Like fans would come to practice, which for many years, you know, practice courts were closed off. I mean, now the first week of the U.S. Open is like a fan week, right? You have mixed doubles during the U.S. Open. You have all these like parties, engagements. That never happened in my career. So I guess I've been intrigued by the change. I also understand the demands of that and how exhausting and physically challenging it is for those players to go through a three-week. I mean, we're in the second week of the U.S. Open right now. Players are playing the quarters and the semis.

21:16I mean, the engagements and the matches that they've had to play and participate in the past two-and-a-half weeks, when this tournament's over, they're going to need a long vacation. So in tennis, theoretically, when you're playing these championship matches, the coaches are not supposed to be telling you anything. That's changed now. They can. They can give you hand signals or they just tell you? Verbally, yeah, whatever they want. Okay, and so does that help you that much? Or you just say, look, leave me alone, I know what I'm doing? It depends how the match is going. There are a few times where I would tell my coach it's enough.

21:49um but yeah i mean the stress of the situation i think guides the communication between the player and the coach some some players love it they they openly communicate to their coaches i know alcaraz does it very often um whereas others i think sinner does it less often and did you get to know nick boleteri i did and was he didn't know to play tennis did he he was a coach he was a coach and he he was more of a mentor to me than a coach he kind of guided he'd come on the court and and he'd make you feel like you were part of like his family and that was a really that was a special feeling especially when you didn't come from much and when you didn't have much support around you he was one of the first few coaches that kind of acknowledged so today um you don't do any athletics as at all or you no i work i mean you work out but you're not no i just don't yeah i don't play much talent and i should i want to um but i've it's like a thing You know, you have to like string your racket.

22:49You have to book a court. I don't have a court at my house like you do. So I have to go. I have to go to a public place. Walking around New York, people recognize you. And when people come up to you and say, can I have a selfie? What do you say? It happened yesterday. I was staying at the Amman and I went for a swim. And I get out of a pool and it was really awkward. Someone asked for a photo. And usually I'm very open to photos, but in that instance I was like, we're kind of in a private space, and perhaps we can do it another time, and they were disappointed. Can you go to a restaurant and people don't bother you?

23:27Yes, yes, definitely. Okay, and so do you miss people not coming up to you saying, hey, I know who you are? Or actually you're happy they don't come up to you? I think what I loved about recognition was like respect for what you for what you did I mean it was a lot of work so when someone would come up to you and say you know it was incredible seeing what you achieved or a young girl or boy coming up and saying you know I you were my idol that just that was a nice feeling of respect but I don't miss the the things that come in the end if you could do anything different in your life other than this interview, what would you most wish you had done differently?

24:13You've won more tournaments, not won as many, not played as long. What would you wish you had done differently? I like the thought of doing things and letting them flow and leaning into things being hard and difficult. I don't want to look back and say, I should have done something because the reason I'm here, the reason I won these events was because I probably messed up a few times and I lost some really tough matches and I lean into feeling like this doesn't feel good and what am I going to do to change it? Thanks for listening. To hear more of my interviews, you can subscribe and download my podcast on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen.

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