Maria Sharapova, defending Wimbledon champ, will surely give a glittering performance at this year's tournament. She will be wearing shoes with 24-karat gold specks adorning the sides.

"It shines unbelievably," she said. "Hopefully it can distract my opponents a little bit."
Sharapova has said that she has 10 pairs of the shoes, which Nike has said are worth $500 a pair. But she can surely afford the extravagance due to the fact that she is expected to rake in more than $20 million this year from her endorsements, prize money, and other sources.

This year expectations are much higher for the tennis star, who won last year's Wimbledon at the age of 17. She is seeded second behind Lindsay Davenport.

"It's going to be a lot harder to defend than winning for the first time. Last year I was 17 years old, and who expected me to win? Obviously there are going to be more expectations, and that's absolutely normal for a player that's No. 2 in the world. I'm just going to go out there and enjoy it and do the best I can to win, and just play my game. That's exactly the same thing I did last year."


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