Theodore the “most beautiful present”
Maria Sharapova welcomes her first baby
7/16/2022 3:34 am
Maria Sharapova has won almost everything in tennis. The Russian was world number one and was one of only a few professionals to win all four Grand Slam tournaments. Now she is celebrating a very special success: the former tennis player has become a mother for the first time.
Former tennis player Maria Sharapova has become a mother for the first time. The five-time Grand Slam winner and former world number one greets her son Theodore on Instagram. “The most beautiful, challenging and rewarding gift our little family could ask for,” the 35-year-old comments on a photo showing her, her fiancé Alexander Gilkes and the young offspring. In her profile she added the note “Mama”.
According to Sharapova, Theodore was born on July 1st. The native Russian also made her pregnancy public on Instagram in April – with a picture of herself with a baby bump on the beach.
The 35-year-old ended her tennis career in February 2020 mainly due to physical complaints. “My body is a wreck,” she explained in a Vanity Fair lifestyle article at the time. She gave her life to sport, “and tennis gave me a whole life back”. In December 2020, she announced her engagement to British businessman and millionaire Gilkes.
The star of the Russian rose in Wimbledon in 2004. As a 17-year-old she stormed furiously to the title, disenchanting the American Serena Williams in the final. In August 2005, she led the WTA world rankings for the first time. She was the first Russian to make it to number one in the ranking. She also made it to the top in 2008 and 2012, and was in first place for a total of 21 weeks.
Her tennis career hit a low point in early 2016. She was banned for 15 months after testing positive for the banned substance meldonium. A little later, in a kind of personality show, she had a succinct justification for the finding: “I didn’t look at the list.”
.jpg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1)
