Maria Sharapova feels she has no escape from her 3.4 million followers

Tennis star Maria Sharapova feels teenagers today are influenced by online platforms as they are often surrounded by it

Russian tennis beauty Maria Sharapova, who has 3.4 million followers on Instagram, feels that social media makes a huge impact on the lives of a lot of teenagers today. Sharapova, who won her maiden Grand Slam title - Wimbledon - in 2004 when she was 17, thinks handling success at a young age may be a bit complicated.

When asked about how it feels to enjoy success as a teenager, she told Tennis World USA: "I think it certainly adds another dimension of pressure. I think it's changed very much to when I was a teenager. Now you have social media, which is a very powerful thing. I think a lot of teenagers are very influenced by it because they are surrounded by it. They have no escape sort of from it. Once you get in, it's tough to really get out."

Sharapova reckons the pressure is more on younger players who achieve success early. "When somebody does well at Grand Slams at an early age, the hype is a lot bigger than maybe many years ago, because you don't see that so often. You're photographed or you're talked about. It can become difficult," she added.

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