Maria Sharapova’s new mission: Flipping the script on male-dominated sports media

Maria Sharapova took a bold step and launched her first podcast, Pretty Tough, with an audacious mission. 

On April 22, the podcast was launched with an audacious mission: flip the script on male-dominated sports media. The five-time Grand Slam champion is done waiting for change and is creating a platform where ambitious women speak freely without apology.

Sharapova moves beyond her Hall of Fame tennis career into media entrepreneurship with purpose. For years, podcasting has been dominated by men like Joe Rogan, Theo Von, and Shawn Ryan, who shape cultural conversations and reach younger audiences. Pretty Tough directly challenges this imbalance.

The International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee (2025) refused to wait for systemic change and instead built the platform herself, partnering with Vox Media while maintaining creative control over her vision. This is not just another celebrity podcast. Sharapova brings credibility earned through two decades competing at the absolute highest level, facing constant scrutiny about how ambitious women are perceived, discussed, and judged.

At age nine, Sharapova moved from Russia to Florida with just her father. She learned English by watching television while her family struggled financially on their tennis dream. Those early sacrifices shaped her perspective on what it takes to achieve at the highest level. As she rose to become world number one and won five Grand Slam titles, she experienced success through a lens that few male champions ever face.

Even at her peak career, Sharapova navigated the uncomfortable balance between being celebrated for her competitiveness while being criticized for that same intensity. The famous 2016 testing positive for meldonium led to a 15-month ban that tested her resilience. When she returned and eventually retired in 2020, she had already proven something critical: women can be complex, driven, and unapologetic.

Early season guests include Oscar-winning actress Zoe Saldana, LA Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, comedian Chelsea Handler, and designer Gabriela Hearst. These conversations span business, media, entertainment, and sports with women operating at the absolute top. Pure Leaf supports the show as a launch partner.

The title captures something Sharapova lived her entire career. Women are expected to look a certain way while also being powerful, to be elegant without being aggressive, passionate without being difficult. That exhausting double standard informed every aspect of her public life. Pretty Tough rejects the either-or framing. It celebrates the multitudes within ambitious women across industries.

Sharapova confirmed the show directly responds to what she calls the ‘manosphere’ of podcasting. While acknowledging that excellent women podcasters exist, she told the Wall Street Journal there simply aren’t enough of them. Her answer: build the show she wanted to listen to, featuring voices and conversations the current landscape overlooks.

Beyond the court, Sharapova has proven herself as a serious entrepreneur and investor. She serves on the Moncler board, invests in companies like Supergoop, Tonal, Public.com, Amulet, and Cofertility, and appeared as a guest investor on ABC’s Shark Tank. This podcast launch signals her entering another domain where women’s stories are traditionally underrepresented.

On April 22, Sharapova also appeared at the TIME 100 Summit Gala, speaking publicly about her life after tennis. This visibility, combined with Pretty Tough’s launch, positions her as a cultural voice shaping how ambition, success, and female identity are discussed in mainstream media.