Maria Sharapova gifted herself a Louis Vuitton bag with first prize money

Maria Sharapova

It is a known fact that Russian tennis beauty Maria Sharapova, 31, came to the Unites States in 1994 with her dad Yuri with just $700 with them. A decade after moving to America, Sharapova, 17, won the Wimbledon and she got £560,500 (approx R5.1 crore) as the prize money.

In a recent interview with CNBC Make It, when Sharapova was asked what did she purchase with her first big prize money, she replied: "Having grown up in an environment where wealth was shown with labels and logos, I headed straight to TJ Maxx [US departmental store chain] and splurged on a bright-colored Louis Vuitton bag. I wore it, I don't know, three times, and then I realised how silly that looked."

Sharapova added that it was the first time she realised that while money allows you to buy materialistic products, all of those things are very temporary. "Ultimately, money is not the pinpoint of happiness. And I think growing up working for every single dollar makes you realise that," she explained.

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates