Net Gains

SWIMSUIT BY NIKE
WATCH BY TAG HEUER ($3,995)
DIAMOND PENDANTS BY RENEE LEWIS (TOP) $40,000, (BOTTOM) $10,000

HAIR BY ERIC GABRIEL @ THEREXAGENCY.COM MAKEUP BY VICKY STECKEL @ ART DEPARTMENT USING DIOR
ACCOMMODATIONS BY GRACE BAY CLUB, A MEMBER OF SMALL LUXURY HOTELS

Who's that girl?" said the middle-aged woman strolling on the breathtakingly picturesque beach of Turks and Caicos' Grace Bay Club resort. "Some model, I think," her husband said with a shrug. The sylph in question, Maria Sharapova, is best known as the brightest star in tennis, the heavy hitter who, at age 17, won Wimbledon in 2004. Still, the man on the beach wasn't wrong. For several days last fall, Sharapova luxuriated at one of the more exquisite properties in the Caribbean while posing for SI. The gig involved an entirely different skill than knocking the fuzz off a tennis ball, but Sharapova isn't the world's most marketable female athlete for nothing. "She's a natural, a total professional," says SI photographer Walter Iooss Jr. "I don't mean for an athlete. I mean period." But, hey, don't take his word for it. Just look at these pictures.

* It wasn't as tough as enduring the heat at the Australian Open, but Sharapova put in a hard three days in Turks and Caicos with longtime SI photographer Iooss, who has shot everyone from Yogi Berra to LeBron James ... and many, many swimsuit models.

MARIA SHARAPOVA
SWIMSUIT BY NIKE
DIAMOND PENDANT BY KC DESIGNS ($625)

MARIA SHARAPOVA
SWIMSUIT BY LULI FAMA ($118)
DIAMOND PENDANT BY RENEE LEWIS ($40,000)