The agreement with the official worldwide Olympic Games sponsor covers the tennis star's home country of Russia and the former states of the Soviet Union.

It is the third mobile phone deal the women's world number two (pictured top) has signed having previously endorsed Motorola and Sony Ericsson products.

The deal – to promote mobile phones, computers and televisions – was made public, somewhat ironically, following Sharapova's defeat to Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open at Crandon Park in Miami.

"Maria really hasn't been marketed that much in Russia," said Max Eisenbud, Sharapova's agent.

"It's important to her because that's where her roots are.

"I also felt that [Russia] was a really untapped market, with the 2014 Sochi Olympics coming up."

Florida-based Sharapova, who actually lived in Sochi until the age of seven, backed the city's successful bid to host the Games.

She famously landed the Wimbledon singles title, beating Serena Williams, at the age of just 17 in 2004 to announce her arrival on the tennis scene in dramatic style; she has since gone to claim every Grand Slam bar the French Open.

The 24-year-old's success has helped turn her into the best-paid woman in world sport with estimated annual earnings of $25 million (£16 million/€19 million) a year, according to Forbes, courtesy of prize money and endorsement deals with global brands including Nike, TAG Heuer, Tiffany & Co and Danone-owned Evian.

The deal is the latest significant announcement from Samsung following the conglomerate's unveiling of a raft of British athletes forming part of Team Samsung for this summer's Olympics in London.


Former England football star David Beckham and world eventing champion Zara Phillips head up Team Samsung, now also including British triple jump star Phillips Idowu (pictured above) and cyclist Victoria Pendleton, who will be opening up their training regimes and lives through a 'Digital Hub' in the build-up to London 2012.

Samsung is in the middle of a global sponsorship agreement with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as its Worldwide Olympic Partner to back the Olympics until the end of the Rio Games in 2016; it is also the wireless telecommunications partner of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The brand is also a presenting partner of London 2012 and heavily involved in the Torch Relay for this summer's Games.

It is promoting the idea of London 2012 being "everyone's Games", and, to that end, is seeking internet bloggers from across the world to write about the Olympics this summer.

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