She is affectionately called Makiri. At the 2006 Australian Open, she gained media attention for wearing an Adidas outfit designed by British fashion designer Stella McCartney and herself.
In December 2004 she played in a tennis exhibition in Tampa, Florida to raise money for the Florida Hurricane Relief Fund. Maria Kirilenko started showing a passion towards tennis aged 5. When Kirilenko was twelve years old, an Honored Master of sports, Elena Brioukhovets, saw her while training.
All the next year Elena watched Maria making progress and then offered her to work together. A three-year program was made and a special team was selected. In less than three years Maria became the number one in her age group and the number two in the group under eighteen. The well-known tennis-players Yevgeni Kafelnikov, Andrei Olhovsky and Max Mirnyi, who had created an organization supporting young tennis-players, helped Kirilenko to arrange her training-process and to attend tournaments.In 2002 Kirilenko became one of the youngest winners of the Canadian Open and the US Open Junior Tournaments. Since September 2002 Kirilenko started participating in WTA events. At the end of 2005 she had climbed right up the rankings and won her first title in Beijing.
She has been recognised as one of the up and coming players of 2006 and, despite being off her best form during the Summer, she has broken into the top 20 for the first time on June 12th, 2006. Kirilenko made her debut for Russia at the nation-based Fed Cup tournament on 22/23 April 2006 on the World Group Quarter-Final tie against Belgium.
Full Name: Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko
Born: January 25, 1987 in Moscow, Russia
Height: 172 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight: 57.6 kg (127 lb)
Favourite surface: Hard, Clay