American psychotherapist Sheldon Kopp once observed, “There are no great men. If you have a hero, look again — you have diminished yourself in some way.”
Maria Sharapova would heartily agree. Unlike her WTA sisterhood, many of whom grew up idolizing the Grand Slam greats who came before them, filling their rooms with posters and, in some cases, even modeling their games after their idols, the Russian has never been one to be awed by others. In fact, the No. 17 ranked Sharapova, into the third round at the U.S. Open after a dominant 6-1, 6-2 win over Czech Iveta Benesova, has only asked for two autographs in her 23 years: one from Spanish chef extraordinaire Jose Andreas and one from German fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh. No tennis players.
“I’ve never really met anyone that I was just kind of star-struck about,” said Sharapova. “Growing up, I idolized a certain part of someone’s game, but I never thought that someone was so good that I wanted to be like them.”
So nonplussed is Sharapova with stardom that she even has a hard time coming to grips with her own fame, and can’t quite understand why someone would want her signature.
“It’s really strange because I’ve always had a difficult time accepting when little kids, whether I’m doing a clinic, talking to them, tell me they want to be just like me,” she said. “Not only is it a bit overwhelming and a bit of a shock, it’s kind of strange. I mean, I’m certainly far from perfect. I have many things I’m not good at. I always say to them, ‘You should want to be better than me or anyone else.'”
Despite her high profile, in-the-spotlight lifestyle (Nike just inked the marketing maven to an eight-year, $70 million deal, and she also pushes cameras, cell phones, watches, etc), she says she’s never been all that comfortable with flattery.
“I get kind of shy about it,” she said. “I don’t openly talk about my imperfections in front of them, but I just smile and say, ‘Thank you.’ Then I just think about it. Like, ‘No, you want to be better than me.'”
But only moments after telling us that she idolizes no one, Masha paused to reflect on the time when, four or five years ago, she spotted a certain NBA legend pulling up to the airport in Miami.
“I said, ‘I think that’s Michael Jordan.’ I saw Nike bags. He walked out of the car. I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness, I can’t believe it!'”
Maybe there’s a little star-chaser in her after all.
