Maria Sharapova announced on Friday that she had given birth to a baby boy named Theodore.
He is the first child for the 35-year-old Russian tennis star and British businessman Alexander Gilkes, 42.
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The couple had announced their engagement in December 2020.
Welcome, Theodore!
On Instagram, Maria Sharapova announced to the world the birth of her first child 👶 pic.twitter.com/X9QiTtS1Sb
— We Are Tennis (@WeAreTennis) July 16, 2022
“The most beautiful, challenging, and rewarding gift our little family could ask for,” Sharapova posted Friday on Instagram, indicating in Roman numerals that Theodore was born on July 1.
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Sharapova retired from professional tennis in February of 2020 with a career that included 36 career singles titles on the WTA Tour.
She spent 21 weeks at the top of the WTA Tour singles rankings.
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Sharapova is the most recent player on tour to complete the Career Grand Slam.
She is a two-time Roland Garros champion and has won each of the other major events once (the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open).
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