Maria Sharapova says it was her father and coach Yuri's choice to stop traveling with her after she won the 2008 Australian Open. Sharapova promoted Michael Joyce to be her head coach shortly after that, and while her father continued to work with her in the off-season and during long breaks from the tour, he started a couple of businesses in Sochi and was not around as much. Sharapova is now being coached by Thomas Hogstedt after she parted ways with Joyce at the beginning of the year. Yuri Sharapova still coaches her daughter when she is at home and also watches her matches on the internet, and will call in advice.
"My dad spent and sacrificed so much in his life and his career," Sharapova said after her 6-1, 6-1 victory over Dominika Cibulkova at Wimbledon. "He never missed one practice of mine, no matter if he was sick or didn't want to be there or I was mad at him and gave him bad attitude. He was always there, even if I told him to be quiet. He committed so much of his life. I think after a certain point I was really happy that he came to me and said that there are other things in life he wanted to do. He certainly deserved that. That doesn't mean he's still not involved in my tennis. I spend a lot of days with him on the court. But it's different. You also grow. I'm 24 years old."
Sharapova said that unlike some other tennis parents, Yuri was never a know-it-all and employed other coaches such as Nick Bollettieiri and Robert Lansdorp.
"He never thought he was the guru," Sharapova said. "He always tried to take me to the best people possible to help me in certain areas of my game. He would learn from them and he would try to gather all this information and then help me."