Sharapova towers over Mayweather (©GettyImages). Maria Sharapova rubbed shoulders with the likes of Floyd Mayweather, Clint Dempsey and other members of the USA national football team at the ESPYS awards.
The 27-year-old scooped the award for the best female tennis player at a glitzy ceremony full of high-profile names in Los Angeles. Cristiano Ronaldo was a no-show, but he still was awarded best international athlete and the best moment was afforded to the USA football team for their World Cup heroics.
ESPYS awards
The American-dominated awards ceremony, arranged by ESPN, were hosted by rapper Drake and covered a year of successful exploits by stars.
Sharapova picked up her gong after landing her second French Open title earlier in the summer. The Russian - who spent a lot of time training as a youngster in the States - failed at Wimbledon but will now have the confidence to try and conquer the US Open in August.
She won at Flushing Meadows in 2006 and has already started preparations to repeat her New York triumph having been spotted jogging on Manhattan beach in California. The face of women's tennis has a new rival though.
New rival
Young and pretty up-and-comer Eugenie Bouchard has started to make real progress on-court as she reached the SW19 final. The Canadian lost to Petra Kvitova, but is seen as the next star of the sport.
The pair had a great match at Roland Garros' semi-finals which the former world no.1 triumphed in, but they will be likely to meet again - maybe even at the US Open.
If either player achieve their US, an invite to next year's event will probably be in the post - and they'll be in good company.
Other winners
Globally-known footballer Ronaldo, star of Real Madrid, will have his Ballon d'Or success and Champions League final glory mostly to thank for his award this year, despite an arduous World Cup campaign in which Portugal departed in the group stages at the expense of USA and eventual winners Germany.
The footballing showcase in Brazil has really put 'soccer', as it is known in North America, on the map. The success of the national team, coached by Jurgen Klinsmann, has caught fans' imagination in a country that tend to prefer baseball and basketball.
Thousands of people filled fan parks and streets of major US cities to watch games versus Portugal and Germany on big screens as they defied the odds to make the last 16. Belgium ended their resistance in a thriller, but the team were still recognised for their efforts.
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