Maria Yuryevna Sharapova didn’t just win tennis matches – she commanded attention, respect, and, at times, controversy everywhere she went. Raised in Siberia before moving to Florida as a young girl with outsized talent and even bigger dreams, Sharapova’s journey to the sport’s summit was never a tale of effortless ascension. Instead, it was one of daily sacrifice, relentless practice, and an iron will that set her apart from peers and rivals alike.
Seventeen and fearless, she stunned the world by defeating Serena Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final – a moment that seemed to announce not just the arrival of a new champion, but a new kind of superstar. Yet Sharapova was no fleeting sensation. Over the next decade, she gathered four more Grand Slam titles, weathered countless battles on court, and crafted a persona where competitive fire burned as brightly as her global celebrity status. Her imposing 6’2″ frame, signature grunt, and laser-like focus became as much a part of tennis culture as any trophy she claimed.
But Sharapova’s story was never linear. Repeated shoulder injuries – each threatening to end her career – forced her to rebuild her game more than once. Always, she adapted and endured. That steely resolve also fueled her life beyond tennis, where she built her own business empire with the Sugarpova candy line and numerous endorsement deals, showing the same meticulous attention she once gave her serve.
The Men in Maria’s Life
Despite inhabiting a world where personal lives are often public property, Sharapova proved herself remarkably adept at keeping her private affairs just that – private. On the rare occasions her relationships did surface in headlines, they tended to involve those who moved in rarified circles.
Today, Sharapova is settled with British businessman Alexander Gilkes. The pair began quietly dating in 2018, their relationship revealed through the occasional artfully filtered Instagram post: shared travel moments, gallery visits, glimpses of downtime. Gilkes – an entrepreneur with close ties to British royalty through his auction house Paddle8 – proposed to Sharapova in December 2020. In July 2022, they welcomed their first child, a son named Theodore, marking a gentle new pivot in Sharapova’s life, away from the chaos of competition toward family and stability.
Before Gilkes, Sharapova’s romance with Bulgarian tennis star Grigor Dimitrov was among the sport’s most public. Between 2012 and 2015, the pair navigated the demands and itinerancy of professional tennis side by side. Reflecting on the breakup years later, Dimitrov admitted to The Daily Mail that distance and ever-conflicting schedules proved insurmountable: “It’s not easy having two players competing on different schedules across the globe.” The courtship between two prodigies made for tabloid fodder, yes, but ultimately revealed the toll elite sport can take on personal lives.
Rewind a bit further, and Sharapova was engaged to Sasha Vujacic, then a Los Angeles Lakers guard. The two became engaged after less than a year together in 2010, but with Sharapova locked into tennis’s relentless travel and Vujacic playing basketball in Turkey, the romance fizzled by early 2012.
A handful of others drifted through the edges of rumor and speculation: TV producer Charlie Ebersol, a brief blip in 2008; fellow tennis star Andy Roddick, though both strenuously denied any romance; and a fleeting brush with Maroon 5’s Adam Levine, whose name cropped up only because of an encounter at a party in 2005.
Perhaps inadvertently, Sharapova revealed more about herself than her suitors in a 2013 Harper’s Bazaar interview: “Love isn’t about finding perfection. It’s about finding someone whose flaws you’re willing to tolerate because of everything else they bring to the table.” It’s a philosophy grounded in realism, not romance – characteristic of someone who, on and off the court, plays by her own rules.
Beyond the Headlines
If Sharapova’s partners made news, it was her posture toward fame and privacy that truly set her apart. Rather than leveraging breakups or heartache for the spotlight, she consistently maintained a dignified silence – rarely speaking about exes in public, almost never fueling gossip. That same discipline underpinned her career, allowing space for the parts of her identity that tennis fans and paparazzi never glimpsed.
Friends often describe her as sharp-witted, gracious, and genuinely warm – qualities that don’t always come across in the icy intensity of her game face. Add to this her intelligence, curiosity, and focus on business, and it’s no wonder Sharapova’s inner circle is carefully chosen. The partners who lasted saw more than a five-time major winner, and certainly more than the cover girl image that graced countless ads.
Since retiring from tennis – and after enduring the shadow of a 15-month doping suspension – Sharapova has shifted seamlessly into the next phase of her life. Her days now revolve around parenthood, entrepreneurship, and a cultivated privacy rarely afforded to athletes of her stature. Instead of center court, it’s home and creativity that claim her focus.
Past Relationships
Alexander Gilkes
Grigor Dimitrov
Sasha Vujacic
Charlie Ebersol
Adam Levine
Andy Roddick
Andrés Velencoso
For a woman who gave her teenage years – and so much more – to the sport that made her famous, this new balance with Gilkes and their son represents something she may never have found during her playing days: a sense of peace and contentment far away from bright lights and post-match interviews. Now, for the first time, it seems Sharapova plays by her own clock, writing new chapters on her own terms.
