There are three Maria Sharapovas in Hong Kong for the Watsons Water Champions Challenge 2005. There is the gangly teenager with age-associated skin blemishes who likes to eat cookies, shop with friends and lounge around the house doing nothing; there is the top-flight tennis player with a legion of fans, ranked number four in the world and with a Wimbledon title under her belt; and finally, there is the statuesque millionaire supermodel with long blonde hair and a svelte figure who is the darling of the celebrity gossip columns.
Sharapova is a rising sports star in the mould of teenage golfing sensation Michelle Wie, British soccer star Wayne Rooney and US Olympic swimming gold medallist Michael Phelps. They are young, rich, successful and have dazzling futures ahead of them. Teenagers want to emulate them, adults admire them, brands want to sponsor them and the media will ultimately make or destroy them.
Who but the exceptional few have heard the roar of 70,000 adoring fans when scoring for their country, their national anthem when receiving a gold medal or the shouts and cheers after picking up a major title? And all at an age when they are still considered, in the eyes of the law at least, children.
THE FIRST SHARAPOVA is sitting in the players' lounge at the Victoria Park Tennis Stadium, where she will join seven other world-class female tennis players for this year's event.
She sits on the edge of her chair, her long legs crossed at the knee, a white Nike baseball cap pulled down low over her eyes. Her blonde ponytail trails out the back. Dressed in blue, tight-fitting leggings and a loose red T-shirt, she pulls a small white towel protectively about her shoulders. It's the day before her first match and she has been practising on court and holding workshops.
Her mood swings from giggly schoolgirl when telling a story about friends, to serious young woman when discussing the finer points of her craft. A large dose of pouting teenager is occasionally dropped into the mix, but this could owe more to her gruelling schedule than petulance.
She is polite: 'Excuse me'; friendly: '[Call me] Maria'; and unassuming: 'I want to have as normal a life as I can.'
