Sofia Zhuk was dubbed the new Maria Sharapova at a young age. The young athlete had a real chance to follow in the footsteps of the legend. At the age of 15, she became a junior Wimbledon champion, having received generous advances from the experts.
However, the potential was not realized. Sophia could not take the general pressure and she soon left the sport to become a model in the United States.
What is happening now with the former hope of Russian tennis?
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The rapid rise of the young tennis player began at the age of 11, when she signed a contract with the IMG agency. Sofya began to regularly participate in major junior tournaments and in 2015 she achieved the main achievement of her career by winning Wimbledon. Then the first Russian final in history took place in Great Britain – in that match she Sofia defeated her compatriot Anna Blinkova in straight sets.
The athlete was immediately dubbed the new Sharapova, and not only because of the outstanding results.
“She loves sweets, like Sharapova, she is interested in design, like Sharapova, she earns money in America, like Sharapova,” Sovetsky Sport wrote eight years ago.
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The tennis player made her WTA tour debut in 2016, but there was no breakthrough. At an adult level, Sophia was endlessly haunted by failures. On Zhuk’s account there was not a single solid title, not to mention the Grand Slam: she did not get past the first round in any of the four elite tournaments. For several years, the Russian woman never even made it to the top 100 of the world ranking, although at the junior level she ranked fourth.
Later, Sophia called one of the main reasons for her failures … her own mother. According to Zhuk, her parents hyper-controlled the tennis player and did not allow her to take time for herself.
“I was under pressure, and I was a kid. He was so envious of American girls that they would come to tournaments with a coach, laugh, talk to everyone, go out on the town. Their life went on, they, in addition to tennis, still saw life. I think I could still play if I didn’t have so much pressure from my family and my parents. My agent also made a lot of mistakes, ”the girl said in an interview with Sports.ru.
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Before Roland Garros 2019, the athlete announced her intention to leave the sport to her mother, to which she received a harsh response:
“You won’t survive without me and without tennis, you can’t do anything else.
The last major tournament in Zhuk’s career was Wimbledon of the same year, from which the athlete flew out after the results of the first qualifying round.
Moving to the United States
After collecting the rest of the prize money, the Beetle left for the United States. The bright girl dreamed of becoming a model, but at first she had to be content with working for a car rental company. After a while, Ella Sophia got a job at a watch store, where she faced harassment from her boss, after which she changed jobs again: this time she started selling real estate.
Sofya Zhuk’s social network
Soon the former athlete, however, was noticed in the modeling business. Sophia signed a contract with the famous agency The Industry Model Management. At the same time, the tennis player married a Russian boy with whom they still live together and have a joint business: a beauty salon and a car rental company. Last year, Zhuk underwent breast augmentation surgery, which she talked about openly on social media, and this spring she even opened an OnlyFans account.
— I was wondering how much you can make there in a week without naked depraved content. No sex messages, nothing. My husband and I just got interested – let’s try what will happen. And I made $4,500 in five days.
Sofya Zhuk’s social network
Now Sophia continues to develop business with her husband and engage in modeling activities. The athlete reconciled with her family and she recently stated that she sometimes even thinks about going back to the tennis court, but so far that scenario seems unlikely.
