Shanghai: Women’s tennis star Maria Sharapova’s newly-launched line of sweets — Sugarpova — could be available in Dubai next year.
“I hope we can launch in Dubai very soon. I think next year will be a really big step in us going into different markets,” the former world number one told Gulf News after losing in straight sets to Victoria Azarenka in the final of the China Open in Beijing on Sunday.
The 25-year-old launched her candy brand at high-end retailer Henri Bendel in New York on August 20 and is already getting demand to make it available all over the world.
Sugarpova has an array of colours, names, shapes, flavours and packaging.
The company’s official website claims that Sugarpova will soon be available at ‘It’sugar’ stores at Mirdif City Centre and Mall of the Emirates.
After opening its first shop in New York, Sugarpova has flourished all over the US and online. The range is also scheduled for launches in London, Manchester and Birmingham in the UK, along with Australia.
“I will not hurry into the business but take things step by step. It will be baby steps to start with,” Sharapova said.
“You have no idea how much it takes to actually produce all the different labels for each market. It’s a lot of work and I’m learning a lot more about that than I probably should. But it’s a lot of work.”
Sharapova said that the learning curve in her new career has been steep, with the first batch of sweets getting held up at US customs. “That lot might not have gotten out of customs, where it remained for three days. That would have been a disaster,” she said.
