Maria Sharapova is engaged to British businessman Alexander Gilkes, and they have a son, Theodore, born in 2022, and have remained deliberately unhurried toward an actual wedding despite the engagement having been announced back in December 2020.
She built one of the most decorated careers in women’s tennis history before retiring in 2020, and her personal life since has centered on raising her son and building a life with Gilkes that both have said they are in no rush to formalize further.
Maria Sharapova’s Husband Alexander Gilkes
Maria Sharapova and Alexander Gilkes were first linked in January 2018 in Los Angeles, and the two publicly acknowledged the relationship on Instagram that October.
Gilkes proposed in December 2020, and Sharapova announced the engagement on Instagram, writing that she had said yes from the first day they met and calling it their little secret.
Gilkes responded publicly as well, thanking her for making him a very happy man and saying he looked forward to a lifetime of loving and learning from her.
Alexander Gilkes was born July 16, 1979, in London, the son of dermatologist Jeremy Gilkes. He was educated at Eton College and the University of Bristol, and became close friends with Prince William during their time at Eton together.
He moved to New York City in 2008 and co-founded Paddle8, an online auction house, in 2011, after working as an executive at LVMH and as an auctioneer at Phillips de Pury and Company.
Fast Company named him one of its Most Creative Entrepreneurs in 2017, and he serves on the board of the New York Academy of Art. He also writes freelance pieces for British Vogue.
Before Sharapova, Gilkes was married to fashion designer Misha Nonoo for 13 years, a relationship that ended in 2016 with the divorce finalized in 2017.
Nonoo has since remarried oil heir Mike Hess and has been widely reported to have arranged the introduction between Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.
Sharapova announced her pregnancy on her 35th birthday in April 2022, and the couple welcomed their son, Theodore, on July 1, 2022.
Sharapova has spoken candidly about the transition to motherhood, telling Dax Shepard’s podcast in December 2023 that she felt real guilt leaving the house as a new mother despite having felt entirely confident and independent through her teens, twenties and early thirties, saying that becoming a parent completely changed her thought process around even small decisions.
At a 2024 Wimbledon interview with Martina Navratilova, she described motherhood as one of the best things to happen to her, joking that the negotiation skills she built through her tennis career and business work turned out to apply directly to parenting.
No wedding date has still been set, and both have said the delay is intentional.
Speaking publicly, Sharapova said the two are not in a rush, explaining that between raising Theodore and Gilkes recently launching a new company, there is already a great deal going on between work and parenting.
Maria Sharapova Biography
She was born April 19, 1987, in Nyagan, in what was then the Soviet Union. Her parents had relocated to Nyagan from a nearby area shortly before her birth because of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster.
The family returned to Sochi when Maria Sharapova was three, and she began playing tennis at age four, with her talent becoming apparent by the time she was six.
A tennis coach recommended she attend a skills clinic connected to IMG Academy in Florida. In 1994, with the family not well off financially, her father borrowed money to bring her to the United States to train.
Her mother did not receive a visa to join them for another two years.
Sharapova formally enrolled in professional training at IMG at age nine, and has called the United States her permanent home ever since.
Career
Maria Sharapova turned professional at 14 and broke through as a genuine contender at 16, finishing 2003 in the top 50 with two tournament victories.
Her signature career moment came in 2004, when she defeated Serena Williams at just 17 years old to win the Wimbledon final, a result that announced a new era in women’s tennis.
She reached the world No. 1 ranking for the first time in 2005 and went on to hold that ranking across five separate stretches for a total of 21 weeks over her career.
She completed the career Grand Slam by winning all four major singles titles: Wimbledon in 2004, the US Open in 2006, the Australian Open in 2008, and the French Open in both 2012 and 2014, having initially struggled on clay before eventually mastering it well enough to win at Roland Garros twice.
She also won an Olympic silver medal at the 2012 London Games, losing the final to Serena Williams.
Her career included a shoulder injury that required surgery and derailed her 2007 season, a severe ankle injury in 2011, and a well-documented doping suspension that kept her off tour for over a year before she returned to win her first title in four years in 2017.
She finished her career with 36 WTA singles titles. She retired in February 2020 following that year’s Australian Open, writing in Vanity Fair that she would miss the training, her daily routine, and her team every day.
Maria Sharapova Net Worth
Maria Sharapova’s net worth is estimated at $220 million, built from a tennis career that generated over 38.7 million dollars in WTA prize money, one of the highest totals in women’s tennis history, along with extensive endorsement deals throughout her career with brands including Nike, Canon and Motorola, which alone brought her an estimated $18 million in a single year in 2006.
She has continued building wealth since retiring through business ventures, including her candy company Sugarpova, and various investment and entrepreneurial activities.
