Don’t get her wrong. Maria Sharapova is extremely attractive, personable, good fun and rich, which is why she gets more than her share of attention. Yet she is also as tough as old boots and as deeply competitive as any contender at Wimbledon, except perhaps Rafael Nadal. That’s why the third-seeded Russian is rightly considered the favourite in the women’s singles.

“I don’t need glamour and attention to be happy,” she said on her arrival in London for The Championships. “I’m very happy being settled and working my butt off trying to win Grand Slams. I want my tennis to speak for everything.”

In other words, she is not here for the photo opportunities or to expand her portfolio of blue-chip endorsements. She is here to win.

The genesis of the public’s obsession with her obvious assets and its disregard for her core virtues was natural enough. Five years ago, when she appeared at the preWimbledon grass-court tournament in Birmingham, reporters - and especially photographers - were sent scurrying to the lawns of Edgbaston. The 16-year-old qualifier was blonde, pretty, leggy; the obvious replacement for her countrywoman Anna Kournikova, whose disappointing competitive career was over.

Here was an editorial godsend for Britain’s brief annual tennis affair, and although Sharapova’s English was not perfect in those days, it was good enough to impart with open charm an extraordinary story.

Her father, Yuri, had taught her to play from the age of four. When she was seven he took her from the Black Sea resort of Sochi to Florida. Yuri had only $700 when they left Russia, and that was borrowed. They turned up unannounced at Nick Bollettieri’s tennis academy, where she later enrolled. Her mother, Yelena, stayed in Russia for two years, completing her college studies and waiting for a visa.

The full details of this episode would not emerge until later, but Miss Sharapova did reveal one telling memory. While she was resident at Bollettieri’s academy (where she was much the youngest in the dormitory) the nine-year-old was bullied by the older girls. She cried a good deal, she remembered, but became determined to succeed.

The identity of those who bullied young Maria has not been revealed, but there is no doubt who has had the last laugh. There must be a good chance that some of her tormentors also made it to the professional ranks and later paid a price when she looked at them coolly across the net.

The Edgbaston debutante presented a package that has hardly changed since. The father was ever-present, except for interviews, and pretended he had no English. The daughter had an effective rather than elegant game, noteworthy for extreme grunting and for a habit of retiring to the back-stopping to collect herself as if in prayer, especially before important points. Both of these actions are somewhat discourteous to opponents, and it was soon noted that she did not grunt when practising. Not that she cared. For what stood out from the moment she emerged was her desperate desire to win.

The next year she proved herself beyond question. At 17 she won the Birmingham tournament and Wimbledon, beating Serena Williams in the final in straight sets, for the loss of five games. She attempted to call her mother by mobile phone from Centre Court, but couldn’t get through. Never mind. That human touch was as good a career move as winning the championship. Since then, Sharapova has become the highest-earning and most photographed female athlete in the world. Last year she made more than $21m (about £10.6m) from endorsements and $1.75m in prize-money. But although she won the US Open in 2006, she started this year frustrated that her potential and her personal ambitions had not quite been fulfilled. She has mostly been a Grand Slam semi-finalist, an athlete beset by injuries, especially a recurring problem with her right shoulder, the fulcrum of her serve.

The competitive comparison with Nadal is valid. There has never been any doubt about Sharapova’s will to win (and the contrast between the on-court and off-court personalities is always arresting) or about her dedication. Even as she has blossomed as a young woman and been flattered in all quarters, social and financial, she has remained deep down a fighter.

However, when any player gives everything, playing every point in every circumstance as if it matters more than life itself, and submits to the training treadmill, chronic injury is inevitable.

When she was sidelined with injury for long spells last year, fearful that at the age of 21 time might already be running out on her career, Sharapova decided to take firmer control of her life and reevaluate her game.

There is a strong sense that she has grown up and taken responsibility for herself. “When I go on court every single day I want to make sure that I’m willing to be out there - and that no one is telling me or pushing me,” she said.

The dynamics of Sharapova’s relationship with her father can only be surmised from the outside, save to say that she has always seemed happy and willing to follow the path he chose and that it has changed from paternal responsibility to partnership.

Her mother, a clever and cultured woman who has always insisted that her only child should keep up her education, is also a powerful and balancing influence. Sharapova completed her high-school courses online with almost as much discipline as she has devoted to her tennis. Her mother generally keeps away from tournaments. When they do travel together, they head not for the practice courts but the museums and galleries.

Sharapova and her coaches have realised that if you can’t play more and train harder, you must play less and train smarter. Her game has always been utilitarian, based on power and consistency rather than touch or guile.

You can tell with many modern women players that they are highly trained rather than naturally gifted. When they are forced to play a delicate shot or a low volley, they can seem clumsy; they retreat to the baseline and the thumping groundstroke as soon as possible. Sensibly, Sharapova has not tried to change that game, but to improve her strengths.

When she was unable to compete last year because she could not use her shoulder properly, she trained hard, concentrating particularly on her speed and footwork. That training continued when her shoulder had healed.

“I had a really good off-season,” she said at the beginning of the year. “I was injury-free and worked hard. I put a lot of dedication into it, waking up every morning looking forward to practice. It was great to be able to play tennis for such a long period without feeling worried about getting injured.”

Fortunately, despite the years of grind and her celebrity status, she has not lost her enthusiasm. “After a week off, doing nothing, I feel completely bored and very strange,” she said. “When I’m travelling somewhere without my tennis racket, it’s completely weird. But as long as I wake up in the morning and can’t wait to get that racket out of my bag, I’ll always be looking forward to improving.”

The fruits of her off-sea-son labours came quickly.

Sharapova easily won the Australian Open in January – her third Grand Slam crown. She did not drop a set as she successively dismissed three of the best players in the world: Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic.

In Melbourne it was obvious that Sharapova’s footwork - the foundation of speed and all good stroke production - had improved. Her service was a revelation. With the blessing of a pain-free shoulder, she did not lose a game on serve throughout the tournament. In the concluding set of the final against Ivanovic, she lost only two points on her delivery.

Afterwards, she spoke about the rigours of top-level tennis. “This will be the first time after a Grand Slam that I won’t get sick or be injured,” she said. “Over the past few years, especially when I get into the later stages of a Grand Slam, my immune system goes down and something comes up out of nowhere. Last year, in April, when I was going to play for Russia in the Federation Cup, the doctors told me not to. I was told my career could be in jeopardy if I went out and played competitive matches.” Sharapova has severely cut back the number of events she plays, to make sure she is as fit as possible for the championships that matter most – and none matters more to her than Wimbledon.

This year she has not played a warm-up tournament – has not played at all since the French Open, where she lost in three sets in the fourth round to eventual finalist Dinara Safina. At the time Sharapova was ranked No 1 in the world and was the top seed, but that loss was no great surprise, for clay is the surface that suits her least.

The crowd at Roland Garros, taking exception to her grunting and shrieking, booed her off court. She decamped immediately to her home in Manhattan Beach, California. The booing was water off a duck’s back. “Within 24 hours of losing in Paris I was at home at my coffee shop, looking through a cookbook and wondering what I was going to cook for dinner,” she said. “I have a very normal life outside of this tennis world, and I’m glad of that.”

Now it’s back to business and the business of winning. “I’ve already won three Grand Slams, but I don’t think I’m at the peak of my career yet. I’m one of the toughest competitors out there. You can never count me out.”