'Don't call me babe'

One year on from winning Wimbledon, Maria Sharapova is the world's richest sportswoman.

The ambassador for Nike, Canon, TAG Heuer and Parlux Fragrances arrives at SW19 having spent the week shopping as she prepared to defend the crown she won in just 73 minutes against Serena Williams.

The 18-year-old Russian has come a long way since her family was forced to flee her home town of Nyagan where temperatures dropped to -40C.

But it was not the cold that drove them out but the fact they were just 100 miles downwind of the nuclear reactor that exploded in Chernobyol in 1986.

The Sharapovas headed to America where Maria graduated with honours from Nick Bollettieri's Florida Academy.

The rest is history and ever since, she has received as many column inches for her looks as her tennis - but this is not something she actively pursues.

'It's not important to be the babe of tennis', she said, 'but when I go on court I want to feel good about myself.

'The last thing on my mind is to be a babe. I fight for every ball and want to win.'

She has her mind firmly on the future and banking more titles but will do it in her own time.

'I know my limits and this is not the end of the many great things to come for me,' she added.