Maria Sharapova had vented her anger at the WTA Tour over a publicity photo shoot she claimed she was being forced into on the eve of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, one of the most important tournaments of the season. Sharapova’s brave actions, or more precisely her outspokenness, proved to be fruitful and on Monday the compromise between her and the WTA was reached. The photo shoot in question was significantly shortened – from 5 hours to just 90 minutes.
Earlier this month Sharapova launched her protest on her website, and asked for fans’ opinions. The Russian said she was threatened to be fined for not wanting to attend to photo shoot, and her reason for not wanting to do so was that she had to focus on tennis as the tournament in Rome is a big tournament.
Here’s what the 21-year-old Sharapova said after the agreement with the WTA: “The compromise was still pretty difficult since it’s before a very big event. (But) the time reduction definitely makes it a lot easier than going into a four or five-hour shoot, without (the time for) hair and make-up, which adds another hour.”