Maria Sharapova at arrivals for The 2013 ESPYS. (Elizabeth Goodenough/Everett Collection)
Maria Sharapova’s Flirty flavored Sugarpova gummy candy. (Sugarpova.com)
For two weeks, Maria Sharapova will be no more — she hopes. Instead, Maria Sugarpova may emerge for the duration of the U.S. Open.
The 26-year-old Russian is planning to advertise her new sweets brand with a brief name-change. She’s appealed through the Florida Supreme Court, and would revert to Sharapova after the tournament.
If the court accepts her surname change, she’ll still need the permission of the Grand Slam Committee. She would remain Maria Sugarpova for as long as the No. 3 seed remains in the event.
If Sharapova is successful in her name-change bid, the PA announcer at the U.S. Open will introduce her by saying, “Please welcome to center court, Miss Maria Sugarpova.”
Sugarpova, according to it’s Web site, is a line of premium gummy candies that “reflects the fun, fashionable, sweet side of international tennis sensation Maria Sharapova.”
Launched earlier this summer, the candies come in 15 different flavors ranging from “Silly Sour” to “Flirty” with bags costing between $4.99 and $5.99.
“We’re not looking to be on the shelves next to the $1.99 candy,” Sharapova’s agent Max Eisenbug told the New York Times.
Despite the tacky marketing ploy Sharapova wants to employ at the U.S. Open, she is going all in with her candy line with reports estimating that she invested $500,000 of her own money to get the company off the ground.
That might seem like a lot, but it is just a drop in the bucket for Sharapova who topped Forbes’ list of the highest paid female athletes by raking in $29 million from tour winnings and endorsements.