Saturday, April 11, 2009
Though a shoulder injury has kept Maria Sharapova out of action since last summer, she was still a notable presence at the Sony Ericsson Open, hitting the promotional circuit for her sponsors in Miami.Sharapova attended a meet-and-greet at the Cole Haan store in the Village at Merrick Park and filmed a promotional spot for the new Sony Ericsson T707 phone during the player party held at Liv nightclub in the trendy hotel Fontainebleau.Neither Sharapova’s injury nor the dismal economic climate seem to be harming her empire. Daniel Kaplan writes in the Sports Business Journal that three of her sponsors—Nike subsidiary Cole Haan, Tag Heuer and Sony Ericsson—are launching ad campaigns starring the former world No. 1, signs that “Sharapova Inc.” is staying strong. It was also reported that Sharapova has inked a new shampoo-company deal worth $2.5 million a year, and will be shooting the ad campaign this week.Additionally, Sharapova, who is dating Charlie Ebersol, son of NBC Sports and Olympics chief Dick Ebersol, is working on a television project. Her previous foray into the small-screen world didn’t work out (her tennis-themed drama with the CW network never came to fruition), but that setback didn’t prevent the 21-year-old from trying again.“She will serve as the executive producer of a weekly drama series loosely based on her life that MTV has agreed to run,” Kaplan reports. “[Her agent Max] Eisenbud is also planning an animation series portraying her as a tennis player by day and a spy/superhero by night who uses the global tennis tour as a cover. Sharapova plans to do voice-overs for both series.”Taken from TENNIS.com Backcourt :)