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Former tennis star Maria Sharapova on Wednesday took to Instagram to announce her pregnancy to her fans and the world. She shared a picture of herself on a beach and wrote "Precious beginnings!!! Eating birthday cake for two has always been my specialty."
Sharapova is expecting the child with her fiance Alexander Gilkes, a British businessman. She made the announcement on her 35th birthday.
A five-time Grand Slam winner, Sharapova announced her retirement from the sport in 2020. The 35-year-old shot to fame as a young, 17-year-old Wimbledon winner in 2004, the third-youngest player to conquer the All England Club's hallowed grass courts. She went on to become the world number one in 2005 and also won the US Open the next year. But in 2007, Sharapova began her long battle with shoulder trouble.
She won the 2008 Australian Open before a second shoulder injury kept her off the tour for the second half of the season, missing the US Open and Beijing Olympics. In 2012, the Siberian-born Sharapova captured the French Open to become the 10th woman to complete a career Grand Slam. She added an Olympic silver medal to her resume that very year. Her 2014 French Open title was another high after a dispiriting injury low.
In a statement published in Vanity Fair and Vogue, the athlete wrote that she was 'saying goodbye' to the sport that made her a household name.
'How do you leave behind the only life you've ever known? How do you walk away from the courts you've trained on since you were a little girl, the game that you love – one which brought you untold tears and unspeakable joys – a sport where you found a family, along with fans who rallied behind you for more than 28 years?
'I'm new to this, so please forgive me. Tennis – I'm saying goodbye,' she concluded.
