Maria Sharapova’s Flirty flavored Sugarpova gummy candy. (Sugarpova.com)
Tennis star Maria Sharapova’s supposed bid to change her name to “Sugarpova” during the US Open was a publicity stunt to divert attention from Sharapova’s firing of Jimmy Connors as her coach days before the Open, sources tell Page Six.
A London report yesterday said that Sharapova was exploring temporarily changing her name to Sugarpova for two weeks, and that she’d approached a Florida court about the possibility. If granted permission, the story said, she could then potentially be called Sugarpova during match play.
But, “We ultimately decided against it,” Sharapova’s agent Max Eisenbud told ESPN today, adding, “at the end of the day, we would have to change all her identification, she has to travel to Japan and China right after the tournament and it was going to be very difficult.”
But sources close to the USTA told Page Six that the name-change was never serious, and just a stunt cooked up by Sharapova’s team to steer public conversation away from her firing tennis legend Connors as her coach after just one match and 34 days on the job last week. “Their thinking coming into the US Open was that she’d just made the worst coaching decision of all time by hiring and firing Connors after just one match,” said a tennis insider. “So they float this story [about changing her name].”
Eisenbud denied that allegation, telling Page Six, “We were considering this for a while, and [it] would have been very cool, but [we] just could not make it happen.” A Sharapova source further said, “Jimmy Connors story was no big deal.”
But by law Sharapova’s temporary name-change was certainly less than realistic, especially just days before the tournament.
“In order to change her name, Sharapova — who is a Russian citizen but has a green card and resides in Florida — would have had to file a name change petition in the state, submit fingerprints, have a background check and have a hearing before a judge. If the judge signed an order, the name change would be official,” ESPN reported today.
Sources close to the USTA further told Page Six the ploy by world’s highest paid female athlete was never serious, and was created to be shot down. “The whole thing doesn’t make sense,” said our source, who cracked, “She is a Russian citizen. Maybe she should have changed her name in Moscow?”
The name-change story also coincides with an event tonight where the star will unveil a line of Sugarpova accessories at Henri Bendel.