”Maria Sharapova Show Case modelling Photos, Sends Fans Into Orgasm..

Whether she was making her latest fashion statement or thumping tennis balls, Maria Sharapova was a model of dedication throughout her playing career. But, as Paul Newman argues, the Russian’s 15-month suspension for a drugs offence will colour history’s view of her

It is 9pm on a balmy August evening in New York, four days before the start of the 2011 US Open. We are in one of the slick fashion shops in the heart of the city’s Soho district when the focus of the night arrives to launch her autumn range of accessories. Looking every inch a fashion icon, the 24-year-old immediately mixes with the high-society set with an ease that suggests she might have been doing this all her life.

Less than 12 hours later a woman walks out on to a practice court across the city at Flushing Meadows and proceeds to thump the ball with all the intensity you would expect of a world No 4 and former champion. If you had been living on another planet for most of the previous decade you would hardly have imagined it was the same person, but Maria Sharapova was one of the world’s most recognisable women.

In Paris 10 months later two more scenarios told a similar story. On the first Saturday of June Sharapova pummelled Sara Errani into submission on Court Philippe-Chatrier to win the French Open for the first time and complete her collection of Grand Slam singles titles. The following morning the Russian might have been excused for nursing a hangover or enjoying a well-deserved lie-in. Instead she was on a flight to Spain, where she would spend the next two days overseeing her new Sugarpova confectionery business before beginning her preparations for Wimbledon.

Over the years there have been plenty of players whose off-court activities have had an adverse effect on their tennis, but that was never the case with Maria Sharapova, who at 32 has announced her retirement after a long battle against injury. She always gave everything on court or in the gym, but there are only so many hours in a day when you can play or train. When her work was done Sharapova preferred to leave tennis behind and pursue her other interests. She once described the locker room as “my least favourite place in the world”. She explained: “I do my job at the site. I play my matches. I do what I have to do and I prefer to live my life away from the site rather than talk tennis all day.”