Maria Sharapova, one of the world’s best-known tennis players, will promote Samsung electronic appliances in Russia as its goodwill ambassador.

Samsung Electronics in Russia appointed the 24-year-old World No. 2 Russian player as its publicity envoy for Russia and the 2014 Sochi Olympics in a ceremony in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, officials said.

Sharapova, a U.S. resident since 1994, had flown to Moscow a day earlier to attend the event.

Samsung Electronics seeks to further enhance the image of Samsung as a global first-rate brand by naming the star player, they said.

As Samsung’s publicity envoy for Sochi Olympics, Sharapova will attend major Samsung events during the Olympics in 2014. She will also model in Samsung advertisements of its television sets, mobile phones, tablet PCs and others.

Sharapova signed a three-year sponsorship deal with Samsung Electronics in Russia in April.

Samsung invited about 50 children to the appointment ceremony Wednesday and let them take photos with her. It gave them tennis rackets with Sharapova’s autograph as gifts.

Sharapova moved from Sochi on the Black Sea coast to the U.S. when she was seven years old. In 2004, she shot to a global fame by winning Wimbledon at age 17. Major titles followed at the 2006 U.S. Open and the 2008 Australian Open. She backed the Sochi bid for the Winter Olympics.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)