Twenty years after her famous victory at Wimbledon at age 17, Maria Sharapova was back at the All England Club in the first week of the Championships to reflect on that defining moment of her career, chat about the current state of the Hologic WTA Tour, and even dish on the current state of her relationship with one-time adversary Serena Williams.
Sharapova’s visit to Wimbledon was a welcome one, as the former World No.1 herself admitted to Tennis Channel that she’d fallen away from attending tournaments as a spectator in the four-plus years since her retirement from the game. First came the pandemic, and then her first pregnancy and birth of her son, Theodore, who just celebrated his second birthday. He joined Sharapova and her fiancé, Alexander Gilkes, for her return trip to SW19.
“It’s not often I come to the tennis events as a spectator,” Sharapova said. “It’s been nice to reconnect. … I love watching the sport. I love supporting all the great names and the new generation that’s coming up. It’s a very different feeling being back.
“Although I have a healthy distance, I still feel like I’m a competitor at heart. You see those momentum swings in a match, and you know that’s an important moment. I love being back. I love being at the US Open, now being a spectator here, it’s a lot of fun.”
But whether near or far, Sharapova has been keeping close tabs on the tour’s current development. Already a noted admirer of Roland Garros semifinalist Mirra Andreeva
‘s tennis, Sharapova also she also enjoys watching Coco Gauff
play, particularly last summer at the US Open when the American won her first Grand Slam singles title.
