As Maria Sharapova almost lost all her millions
'29.08.2018'
Source: Lenta.ru
A year ago, tennis player Maria Sharapova was expelled from the Forbes list. Now she appeared there again and took an unusually low - fifth place. Compared to the year 2015, its income has almost halved, and the number of sponsors has decreased by a third.
Sharapova, whose life in March 2016 th went downhill because of the doping trial, has been trying to recover the past for a year and a half. As the Meldonium scandal hit tennis player earnings - figured out Lenta.ru.
And prestige, and millions
The American magazine Forbes has published the traditional ranking of the highest paid female athletes in the world, covering the period from June 2017 to June 2018. For the third time in a row, Serena Williams leads the list - 23, a recurring Grand Slam champion from the maternity leave. However, if it were not for the doping history of Sharapova, Williams would have waited for her finest hour.
Until March 2016, Sharapova was deservedly called one of the most successful Russian women today. Her life resembled a fairy tale: the rapid rise, major victories, serious advertising contracts, her own business, leadership in the ranking of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA).
With 18 million dollars, she topped the Forbes rating on 2005, exactly two years after her first victory in the Grand Slam. From season to season, Russian women’s incomes grew, sponsorship contracts grew, and global brands lined up to get her face.
When the athlete was just 12 years old, she began a collaboration with Max Eisenbad. This man is her agent to this day. In 2003, Eisenbad agreed on a contract with the first major sponsor, Sharapova. It was the manufacturer of mobile phones Motorola. According to Western media reports, the agreement brought the girl over one million dollars a year. Since 2004, the tennis player has been sponsored by TAG Heuer, Colgate & Palmolive, Land Rover, Tiffany & Co, Head, Samsung, Porsche and Evian. The size of contracts with these brands ranged from three to nine million dollars annually.
But it overtook all the technical sponsor of the tennis player - Nike. He supported the Russian woman from the 11 age, and in the 2010 year he offered Sharapova a record agreement. Under the terms of this contract, in the eight years of cooperation, the tennis player was to receive 70 million dollars.
Maria has been an ambassador for Nike in Europe and North America for many years, and in return received exclusive outfits for the court. Sharapova's dresses for several seasons in a row were recognized as the best on the tour.
In 2012, Sharapova launched her own sweets line, Sugarpova. Three years later, the sales of candy reached five million packages per year, and the income from them was about 20 million dollars. At the same time, an athlete spent only half a million on creating a business.
As a result, the Russian has entered the list of the most highly paid athletes of the decade (2005-2015) according to Forbes, taking the 18 line with a total income of 250 million dollars. Between 1 June 2014 and 1 June 2015, she earned 29,2 million. In this case, the official prize amounted to slightly more than six million, and the rest, Mary earned on advertising.
In the sports world, the Russian woman was called a phenomenon. Sharapova did not have to win on the court in order to increase her earnings. Contracts came to Maria themselves at any time during her career: during injuries, operations, trainer shifts, and trivial bad luck. The absence of the game did not cause an outflow of sponsors: Sharapova has long become a brand.
“That is the worst moment”
Everything collapsed overnight.
"I fell below the baseboard. It was the worst moment when I was really scared when this world turned upside down, ”the tennis player wrote in her autobiography.
The story with meldonium really “turned the world over” by Sharapova: she was excommunicated from the sport for 15 months and lost almost all the sponsors. In addition, we had to endure the endless attacks of other tennis players, who said: “Cheaters have no place on the tour.” It is difficult to say what hit Maria harder: a disgraceful disqualification or the fact that almost all the brands that collaborated with her abandoned her.
This is partly to blame for Aizenbad, who at one time launched a car for making money: he was the one who ignored letters from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and did not notice that Mildronat (also known as Meldonium), which Sharapova had been regularly taking for ten years to strengthen the heart, included in the list of prohibited drugs.
TAG Heuer was the first to respond. The contract with the Russian woman expired on the same days when the world learned about the doping history, and the company decided not to extend the cooperation. A day after the press conference with the recognition of Sharapova temporarily frozen contracts Porsche and Nike.
But Eisenbad, realizing the scale of the guilt, quickly took control of everything. The line of defense was built most intelligently. The frankness and openness of Sharapova placed sponsors to her and reminded WADA of extenuating circumstances. As a result, even Nike acknowledged: “We are surprised and upset, but we appreciate the sincerity with which Maria spoke,” the company said in a statement. Six months later, Nike returned to Sharapova, leaving a record contract in force.
The Russian woman again took to the court in April 2017. By that time, Colgate & Palmolive, Porsche and Evian had already resumed cooperation with her. The sports equipment company Head did not abandon the tennis player at all: they renewed the contract with Sharapova even before the court's decision and supported the hashtag #IStandWithMaria launched on social networks. TAG Heuer, Avon and Tiffany & Co.
In the most profitable year, Sharapova earned 29,2 a million dollars, including prize money. Over the past three years, this record failed to beat anyone. Serena Williams came closest to this figure in the 2016 year (28,9 million), and it is unlikely that in the near future one of the tennis players will earn more. Including Sharapova herself.
In the updated Forbes list, Sharapova’s total income was estimated at 10,5 by a million dollars and only one million was earned directly by playing tennis.
Maria didn’t manage a full return to sports: big victories did not come, old injuries continued to torment.
The Russian has become very selective in the choice of tournaments, she plays a little and is unstable. But more and more Sharapova is engaged in its own business and advertising. The other day in New York, she presented the author's collection for Nike.
Meanwhile, August 27 kicked off the US Open, where Sharapova received the 22-th seed number. The net she fell was not the easiest: among the possible rivals, the fourth racket of the world - Angelique Kerber and the second - Caroline Wozniacki. Sharapova had already won the US Open 12 years ago, but now the business seems to interest her more than sports.
