Former women's tennis world No. 1 and five-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova is pregnant with her first child, the Russian announced Tuesday.
The Russian tennis player made the announcement on the occasion of her 35th birthday. She has been engaged since December 2020 to British businessman Alexander Gilkes.
"Precious beginnings!!! Eating birthday cake for two has always been my specialty," she captioned the photo on Instagram.
In the picture, Sharapova – who lives in the United States – is seen touching her stomach and posing on a beach.
Sharapova followed the initial message up posting a thank you to those of her 4.2 million subscribers on Instagram who had congratulated her on the news.
"Waking up in paradise and to so many beautiful messages," she wrote.
Sharapova won all four Grand Slam singles titles – including the French Open twice – before retiring in 2020.
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.
