By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday, July 15, 2022
It’s a boy! WTA legend and five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova has given birth to baby Theodore. Here she is with the little one, and father Alexander Gilkes.
Sharapova, 35, held the No.1 ranking for 21 weeks and is one of ten women to have won all four Grand Slam tournaments in the Open Era.
The happy news comes about 19 months after Sharapova announced her engagement to Gilkes, a British art dealer who was once married to Meghan Markle’s close friend Mischa Nonoo. Gilkes' four-year marriage ended in 2017.
Five-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova was previously engaged to NBA player Sasha Vujačić back in 2011. That relationship concluded back in 2012.
“Thank you for making me a very, very happy boy,” Gilkes posted on Instagram following the couple's engagement announcement. “I look forward to a lifetime of loving you, and learning from you Maria Sharapova."
During her playing days, Sharapova captured 36 singles titles, nearly $39 million in prize money, served as Russian flag bearer at the Olympic Games, became a tennis fashion icon and exerted her marketing muscle as a face for several blue-chip sponsors, including Porsche, Nike and Head.