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not even turned ten when she was sent to Florida, USA with her father for
training in tennis. She was extremely sad as she had to spend two years’
separation from her mother Yelena. Maria’s mother was forced to stay back in
Siberia because she did not have the permit to travel to the US. At the tender
age of nine, Maria learned that in order to excel at tennis, she would have to
make many sacrifices.

“I used to be so lonely,” Maria Sharapova recalls. “I missed my mother terribly.
My father was working as much as he could to keep my tennis-training going.
So, he couldn’t see me either.

Maria recollects that she used to remain alone and missed her mother a lot.
Her father worked hard to fetch money for her needs and so, he also could not
meet her.
“Because I was so young, I used to go to bed at 8 p.m. The other tennis pupils
would come in at 11 p.m. and wake me up and order me to tidy up the room
and clean it.

Maria was very young and so, she would go to sleep at 8 pm. The other
students would return at 11 and would wake her up, ordering her to clean the
room.
“Instead of letting that depress me, I became more quietly determined and
mentally tough. I learnt how to take care of myself. I never thought of quitting
because I knew what I wanted. When you come from nothing and you have
nothing, then it makes you very hungry and determined . .. I would have put
up with much more humiliation and insults than that to steadfastly pursue my
dream.”

Depress: sadden
Quitting: leaving
Pursue: follow

Maria did not get depressed by all this. Instead she became determined and
mentally tough. She took care of herself. She never thought of leaving the
training because she was determined to achieve her aim. When a person has
nothing, he craves and becomes determined to get it. She says that she would
have borne greater humiliation and insults also in order to achieve her dream.