Maria Sharapova has been awarded the honorary Master of Sports of Russia title.

Shamil Tarpishchev, president of the Russian Tennis Federation, awarded Maria Sharapova her new title at the Kremlin Cup press conference.

Maria said she had no idea about the award and was shocked. The press conference took place ahead of the start of the Kremlin Cup. This week’s Kremlin Cup will be the first tournament that Florida-based Maria Sharapova has played in in her native country.

Nevertheless, Maria said she felt like a true Russian. “Even in the U.S. I feel a Russian, and here in Moscow I feel even more Russian,” she was quoted by rtr-sport.ru as saying. However, she said she could not promise to play for the Russian team in next year’s Fed Cup. “I’m not yet physically ready to play for the team. Even without it I play too much tennis for my age. I don’t know how I am going to feel next year and cannot promise anything, although we have got an agreement with Shamil Tarpishchev,” she said.

Maria Sharapova is Russian!

Maria Sharapova is Russian, and she will never become an American national, world number one’s father told the Sovetsky Sport newspaper in an interview Thursday.

With his statement he denied rumors in the media that the blonde tennis star is going to become the national of the U.S. where she has lived for the past eleven years. “The people who wrote these articles are just short of information. My daughter is Russian and she will never become an American,” Yuri Sharapov, Maria’s father, told the newspaper.

Maria Sharapova is at the moment in Moscow, first time since emigrating eleven years ago, preparing for next week’s Kremlin Cup. She, accompanied by her father, personal coach and producer, came to Moscow on personal plane Monday. Maria is relaxed ahead of the game, looking forward to her first tournament in native country. She is not troubled by the possibility of losing her top rank to Belgium’s Kim Clijsters, who may snatch the title from her if she wins this week’s Fielderstadt tournament.

“Masha is absolutely calm about this,” Yuri told Sovetsky Sport.