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.
Tennis phenom, Maria Sharapova, joins us today!! It’s so fun to have athletes in the attic!! And it’s extra titillating when they have competed at highest level of sport like @MariaSharapova 🍒🍒 enjoy now anywhere you listen to podcasts!! open.spotify.com/episode/74nst2…
