Former
world No. 1
Maria Sharapova mentioned that nobody in her family is tall like
her and made a lighthearted joke about the Chernobyl blast that occurred in
1986, a year before her birth in the city of Pripyat, Ukrainian SSR (now
Ukraine). She revealed that her family lived near the site of the explosion.
During the
accident, dozens of people died instantly from the nuclear explosion, and
thousands lost their lives due to the radiation consequences left by the
explosion at the nuclear plant.
The retired
Russian tennis player shared her childhood memories and the years she spent
growing up shortly after the accident in a nearby city during a conversation on
the podcast "Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard."
"It
was a very different upbringing, I was born in Siberia because of the Chernobyl
explosion and my mom was pregnant with me and they were living 30 kilometers
from the explosion in Belarus at the time," Sharapova said.
The podcast
host, Dax Shepard, jokingly remarked about the "benefits" that the
accident brought to Sharapova, referring to her height, which stands at six
feet and two inches:
"It’s
been mentioned a few times. No one [in my family] is as tall as I am so it’s
definitely been a consideration," Maria Sharapova replied laughing.
"We
fled to Siberia and that’s where I was born and a few years later, we moved
down south to a warmer town [Sochi] in the Black Sea, that’s where I started.
Then at the age of five, my father and I flew to Florida and I’ve lived in the
US since," she said
Sharapova
retired from professional tennis in 2020 at the age of 32. During her career,
she secured five Grand Slam titles: Wimbledon in 2004, the US Open in 2006, the
Australian Open in 2008, and the French Open in 2012 and 2014. She also held
the position of former world No. 1. Additionally, her achievements included a
silver Olympic medal at the 2012 London Olympics and a total of 34 titles
throughout her career.
