Sharapova faces tests on and off the court

Anna Kournikova couldn't do it at all.

Gabriela Sabatini had a sniff of it.
Serena Williams did it, but never consistently.

Now it's up to Maria Sharapova to prove that a women's tennis player can be an international sex symbol and dominate her sport.

The jury is so far out of the building on that question that security may end up locking them out for the night before they can return for a verdict.

"Anna had a lot going on in her career that took a lot of time, energy and pressure," Mary Pierce told FOXSports.com. "Maybe other interests start happening. You have to be superhuman. To dominate you have to be at your best and that takes all your time."

The fifth-ranked Pierce has been on tour for the past 14 years and has had a few of her own bouts with commercial life and celebrity. She was engaged to former baseball All-Star Roberto Alomar for three years and the celebrity of their relationship could be distracting.

Sharapova has no major man problems now, but she does have an off-court portfolio that is weighing heavily on her. She's banking a cool $19 million per year and 90 percent of those earnings are off-court.

That means a lot of photo shoots, sponsor appearances and store visits. She's managed pretty well so far, but it isn't getting any easier.

"I think she's dealt very well with the pressure," said her compatriot, Elena Dementieva. "It's never easy to have all those things off the court, but when she gets on court, she seems to love the fight."

This week, Sharapova's signature perfume is available at Macy's in downtown LA.

Does she run up from the Staples Center — where she is attempting to defend her WTA Championships title — and spray some on her wrist in front of wide-eyed patrons, or does she stay in the building undergoing therapy for her two troubling injuries?

In December, the 18-year-old is planning on embarking on a Maria Sharapova Japan Tour, where she'll play a series of exhibitions during tennis' alleged off-season. How smart is that for a player who has only played a handful of contests since the U.S. Open due to injuries? How fresh is she going to be when she has to travel to Australia in January and try to fight back the chocking demons that seized in her titanic loss to Serena Williams in the 2005 Australian Open semifinals?

Maybe not very, which may have her regretting the Japan Tour idea much of next year.

As two-time Grand Slam titlist Pierce knows, playing at one's highest level demands almost all your attention. That's what France's finest player did this year and she reached two Grand Slam finals at the age of 30, no small feat.

"I don't have a lot of time for anything else," Pierce said. "Of course you have moments when you go on vacation and rest, but if you are filling that with other things, it's tough. If you can find your priorities and balance, well then okay, but for me, my tennis has to be the top priority. I don't see it any other way. You need to give it first place."

No one who knows Sharapova sees that she has any other intentions but to be No.1 again, but the fact is, there are a lot of things coming in second place behind priority No. 1. There are marketing teams lining up the turnstiles to get a part of her day. Major sponsors like Motorola, Canon and Nike want some bang for their buck and that doesn't mean just an annual photo shoot.

So even if Sharapova is thinking tennis strategies while the cameras are clicking away in a photo shoot for Vogue, she's not out working on her volley.

But the 18-year-old says she knows when enough is enough.

"You must have that feeling inside," she said. "You must realize what your priority is, how much time you can spend on one certain thing."

In order for Sharapova to become a dominant player in the mold of Serena, she'll have to develop a number of elements to her game that are lacking, like more variety and improved footwork. She'll never be as fast as Williams — who won seven grand Slams titles because other players simply couldn't pass her when she was zoning - but Sharapova could be just a powerful and if she can improve her net game and up a her defense a little, she'll be a factor in every tournament she plays.

But here's the major difference between Serena and Sharapova: Serena didn't become a sex symbol until after she won a series of Slam titles and came to forefront of the publics' attention.

Maria has been the cat's meow since she shrieked her way to the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2003.

"It's very flattering," Sharapova said. "I don't necessarily think about it when I step on the court because the only thing I'm thinking about is my tennis. I hope that people come out and watch me for my tennis. But I can't control the reason why they come out. I'm a tennis player. With being a popular tennis player comes a lot of other things. That's part of it."

In order to reach Serena status as a player, the 6-foot-2 Sharapova will have to spend a tremendous amount time toning her body and honing her technique.

She's been working out a ton during the past three weeks, but the right pectoral muscle injury that she sustained a year ago just won't go away and if she can't get rid of it she'll never be able to crunch her forehand and serve like she did when she won Wimbledon in 20004.

Without those two weapons, she could end up being Sabatini — an amazingly talented player who won one Slam and then could never put the pieces back together again and capture another.

"It's been a pretty injured Maria this year," said Sharapova, who won three 2005 titles but hasn't reached a Grand Slam final. "It's been really frustrating. But I've been telling myself that no one s going to be injury free for their whole career. I've been working hard and I took all the negative things out of myself and I believe in myself."

Pierce sees room for concern.

"Physically Maria is young and she already has a decent injury," she said. "She hits a fantastic, heavy hard ball but her technique is not the greatest and that can cause injuries."

Talking technique is not a topic that many young players want to engage in, but talking about the tutors who helped make their strokes is a subject they are well versed in.

Sources say that Sharapova made a very grown up decision recently as she has decided to cut way back on working with the man largely responsible for her killer groundstrokes, L.A.'s Robert Lansdorp - who has worked with her since she was 12.

The gruff Lansdorp also helped develop the games of Tracy Austin, Lindsay Davenport and Anastasia Myskina and they all eventually left him once they became more mature women, so Sharapova is following in the footsteps of some very good players before her.

But she will soon be without a man who is willing to tell her when she's slacking off or spending too much time away from the court, and Lansdorp certainly has those concerns. She'll be without a knowledgeable guy who is willing to confront her intense father Yuri over match strategies. She'll be without a no BS guy who sometimes comes on too strong, but who understands how champions are made.

That's a big risk, but one that a self-assured 18-year-old woman seems willing to take.

If Sharapova shares one quality with Serena, it's a tremendous inner pride. They both like to look good, they like too be loved and they both have an incredible amount of confidence in their own games, regardless of the circumstances.

Almost any player who entered the year-end WTA Championships in a field that contains the red hot Kim Clijsters and Davenport - two players who have wasted Sharapova this year — would be shy about picking herself to win the tournament.

But not Sharapova. She may just take that quick visit to Macy's to celebrate the scent she created, but when she returns to the Stales Center, she plans on smelling blood.

Distracted or not, she's the apple of her own eye.

So who's going to win the WTA Championships, Maria?

"Why would I pick someone else other than me," she asked. "It's not common sense."