Staff Reporter.
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Former world No 1 Maria Sharapova on Tuesday used the occasion of her 35th birthday to announce that she was pregnant with her first child.
The Russian five-time Grand Slam champion, shared the news on Instagram to her 4.2 million followers.
“Precious beginnings!!!,” she wrote alongside a photo of her standing on a beach and smiling.
“Eating birthday cake for two has always been my specialty.”
In December, Sharapova and British businessman Alexander Gilkes revealed that they were engaged.
A frequent guest in Sharapova’s player’s box while she was on tour, Gilkes also accompanied her off the court to star-studded affairs including the famed Met Gala in 2019 and 2021.
Although she competed under the Russian flag during her career – and is the only Russian woman to have won a career Grand Slam – Sharapova has lived in the United States since she came to the country as a young tennis prodigy.
Sharapova retired from tennis in 2020, just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and her last career match was a first-round defeat to Croatia’s Donna Vekic at that year’s Australian Open. She is just one of 10 women to win all four Grand Slam tournaments all-time, winning five in all, and spent 21 weeks at the top of the WTA rankings.