Maria Sharapova says she used injury breaks to build the business career that followed tennis, treating downtime as a planning window rather than dead time. The 39-year-old said she started preparing years before her 2020 retirement and was already moving beyond the court while still competing.
Leadership Institute and NBA
"I recognised from an early age that as a woman, my career would end much sooner than in other professions," she said in an interview with the Leadership Institute. "I've got to hustle. I've got to start learning from other people." That approach turned breaks into working sessions: "When I was injured, or I had a break, I'd go to a business school, I would take a few weeks. I would grow, I would take internships. I went to the NBA for a few weeks to shadow Adam Silver," she said.
The method was practical. Rather than waiting for retirement to force a reset, Sharapova used short blocks of time to learn how another part of the sports economy works, then applied that habit to her own next act. She also said she made investments meant to "turn into solid return on investment in the future," which is the kind of forward planning most athletes only consider after their playing window closes.
Sugarpova and Moncler
Sharapova founded Sugarpova in 2012 and now leads it, while also serving on the Board of Directors for Moncler. She is actively investing in Tonal, Therabody and Amulet, spreading her bets across consumer and wellness businesses instead of depending on a single post-tennis role. That makes her one of the few former players with an operating business, board duties and outside investments running at the same time.
Her tennis record shows why the transition carried weight. She won Wimbledon as a 17-year-old in 2004, completed the career Grand Slam in 2011 by winning Roland Garros, won Roland Garros again three years later and also took the WTA Finals title in 2004. She reached the final of the 2012 Olympic Games and won the Billie Jean King Cup for Russia in 2008, but her career was also interrupted by chronic shoulder issues and a 15-month ban after appeal for failing a drugs test in 2016. The arc is exceptional and incomplete at once: the wins built the platform, and the interruptions pushed her to prepare early.
That preparation is the part executives and athletes should copy. Sharapova did not wait for retirement in 2020 to figure out her second act; she built it in fragments, during injuries and breaks, by studying, interning and investing before the playing career was over. Which business school and internships she used is still the unanswered detail, but the playbook is already visible: short windows, real exposure and money placed where it could compound later.
