Five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova poses for the cover of Self Magazine’s September issue and the highest-paid female athlete for ten years running talks about her competitive fire as well as her passion for fashion in the mag.

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"I have a competitive drive," Maria Sharapova tells the magazine. "It's ferocious and powerful, and it's about winning." Well, that might be news for Self’s readers, but here at Tennis Now we’ve been lauding the grittiness of Sharapova on a near weekly basis.

The candy mogul, beauty spokesperson and ball basher says that designing clothes for the market has changed the way she views fashion.

"Designing for the mass market has really changed my thinking process and my on-court look,” she told the magazine. “Even if I want to be the one pushing fashion on the court, today I want to do it in a way that a woman playing in a doubles league can wear, too."

Click here for a behind-the-scenes vid of Maria’s Self photo shoot