On April 19, 1987, Maria Sharapova was born to parents Yuri and Yelena Sharapova, in western Siberia. When Maria was two years old, her family moved from her birthplace in Nyagan and settled in Sochi-this was yet another move for her parents, who had moved to Ngygen from Belarus the year before Maria was born in order to escape radiation from Chernobyl. Sochi was home to Russian tennis great Yevgeny Kafelnikov at the time-and would soon be the home of another tennis star.
