After investigating whether it was feasible and ultimately desirable, Maria Sharapova will not temporarily change her last name to “Sugarpova” during the U.S. Open. The Times of London reported that Sharapova had planned to do so—to match the name of her candy company—but ultimately, according to her agent Max Eisenbud (who is the CEO of Sugarpova), it became “too much of a hassle.”
“We were really considering it,” Eisenbud told TENNIS.com.
The Russian would have had to jump through a a number of legal hoops in Florida in order to do so. Sharapova has a U.S. green card, but would have had to undergo a background check, be fingerprinted, and eventually have a hearing before a judge.
“Sugarpova is about having fun and we don't want to do the traditional boring marketing like a billboard,” said Eisenbud. “I think you need try new and fun things.”
After spitting with her coach of just one month, Jimmy Connors, Sharapova is working with her father Yuri in New York. Sharapova had a Sugarpova event scheduled in New York on Tuesday.