Sharapova

Paris: Taking time out is not something that comes naturally to one of the most famous sportswoman in the world.

So when Maria Sharapova was forced to sit out two months on the sidelines earlier this year to recover from a severe bout of tendonitis in the shoulder, it all seemed so strange.

“I was able to live a normal life alone by myself for a few weeks where I got to go to the grocery store and I had to cook my breakfast and lunch,” the 20-year-old Russian gushed after coasting into the third round of the French Open with a straight-set win over veteran American Jill Craybas.

“It was just so unusual for me because usually when I’m just a week or so at home, my mom comes and I see her and she’ll do all of that great stuff. She’ll be the one going to the supermarket and buying toilet paper.

“I think I seriously ran out (of it) and had to go to a friend’s house next door to get some, which is a very unusual experience for me.

“I know I’m 20-year-old, but in a way I am so mature because of what my career has brought me, but in other ways I’ve missed out on the normal things of life which I’m really not used to. And it was wonderful. I loved it.”

It all seems worlds apart from her earlier days when the nine-year-old Maria and her father Yuri left behind their home and her mother Yelena in Moscow to begin training at the famed Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida.

They were hard days according to those who knew the father and daughter partnership, but such was their dedication that just nine years later, Sharapova was Wimbledon champion and destined for global stardom.