Maria Sharapova announces she is pregnant with her first child - on her 35th birthday

Maria Sharapova has announced she is expecting her first child with British fiance Alexander Gilkes. Retired five-time major champion Sharapova revealed the news — which came on her 35th birthday — with an Instagram post in which she was pictured on a beach cradling her bump.

Ad/> She wrote: «Precious beginnings!!! WTA FinalsSix first-timers, but whose run to WTA Finals is most surprising?10/11/2021 AT 06:42 »Eating birthday cake for two has always been my specialty." /> Sharapova has made a habit of announcing significant personal news on Instagram, doing the same when she and businessman Gilkes got engaged last December. Andreescu says she came close to quitting, felt career was going 'down the drain' How does Raducanu become more 'robust'? The pair had been in a relationship since 2018, with Gilkes seen accompanying the Russian — one of an elite group of women to have won each of the game's four majors — to various tennis tournaments and off-court events.

Sharapova retired from tennis in February 2020, with her last foray into competition coming at the previous month's Australian Open. Sharapova was just 32 at the time of that decision, but she had been hampered by a shoulder injury and declared her wish to spend her time «in more meaningful ways».