Maria Sharapova was born on April 19, 1987. She is a Russian professional tennis player. She was born in the Siberian town of Nyagan, where her parents moved from Gomel to escape from the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. Concerned about the regional effects of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, they left their homeland shortly before Sharapova was born. Old grandmother of the tennis-player Galina Demjanovna Sharapova lives in Gomel to the present time.