Sharapova Spotted Courtside in Melbourne with Son Theo – Fueling Aussie Open Commentator Rumors

Melbourne, Australia – December 8, 2025 – The summer sun beats down on Rod Laver Arena, where the buzz of the 2026 Australian Open preparations is already palpable, even with the main draw still a month away. But today, it’s not the pros grinding through practice sessions that have fans craning their necks—it’s a familiar blonde icon slipping into a courtside seat, her three-year-old son Theodore (affectionately “Theo”) perched on her lap, wide-eyed and clutching a tiny tennis ball. Maria Sharapova, the five-time Grand Slam champion who last stepped onto these very courts as a competitor in 2020, has returned to Melbourne, and the sighting is igniting a firestorm of speculation: Is the “Ice Queen” about to thaw into the commentator’s booth?

Dressed in a sleek white linen shirt and oversized sunglasses—effortless chic that screams post-retirement glow—Sharapova looked every bit the poised spectator as she pointed out the baseline to Theo, who giggled and promptly tried to bounce his ball off her knee. The duo, joined briefly by fiancé Alexander Gilkes before he stepped away for a call, drew a crowd of whispers from nearby ball kids and media alike. “It’s surreal being back here with him,” Sharapova told a cluster of reporters post-sighting, her signature poise unbroken. “Theo’s at that age where everything’s an adventure—tennis included, though he’s already declared rackets ‘too heavy’ after one swing.” The moment, captured on fan phones and quickly going viral on Instagram (racking up over 500K likes in hours), shows Theo in a pint-sized AO-branded cap, mirroring his mom’s iconic 2008 title win here.

For Sharapova, 38, this isn’t just a nostalgic jaunt Down Under. It’s her first public appearance at Melbourne Park since retiring five years ago, a decision she credits to the “beautiful chaos” of motherhood. Theo, born on July 1, 2022, turned three this past summer amid a low-key family bash that Sharapova documented with a rare, heart-melting post: her cradling him in a lime-green dress against a backdrop of pastel balloons. “The most rewarding gift,” she captioned it then, a far cry from her on-court roars. Since then, the former World No. 1 has juggled Sugarpova’s global expansion (now boasting $500M in sales) with quiet family milestones—like Theo’s short-lived tennis phase earlier this year, where he “snubbed” a mini-racket for a toy truck, as she shared in a February Instagram Story.

But the real heat? The commentator chatter. With the 2026 AO broadcast teams locking in—ESPN boasting John McEnroe and Rennae Stubbs, while Channel Nine fields Jelena Dokic and Mark Philippoussis—insiders are buzzing that Sharapova’s poised, no-nonsense style could slot her right in. She’s dipped her toe before, calling matches for the 2014 Sochi Olympics and hinting in a 2023 podcast that her aversion to “filling up the oxygen with words” makes her a natural. “I could be good at this,” she quipped then on Armchair Expert. Recent whispers from Nine execs (unconfirmed, naturally) suggest trial runs during the United Cup, and her Melbourne timing—coinciding with AO media days—feels anything but random. “Maria’s voice would add that champion edge,” one source close to the production tells us. “Fans crave her take on the new gen, like how she’d break down Sabalenka’s serve.”

Sharapova’s AO history is etched in gold: her 2008 triumph over Ana Ivanovic, a career-defining roar that silenced doubters post-injury. Yet retirement brought reinvention—Hall of Fame induction in August 2025, a combined net worth north of $200M with Gilkes, and Theo’s endless curiosity rekindling her love for the game off-court. “Motherhood taught me patience,” she reflected in a September Travel + Leisure interview, fresh from showing Theo the Wall of Champions at Wimbledon (where his eyes lit up at her name). “But tennis? It’s still in my blood.”

As the family jetted in for a pre-holiday escape—think beach sunsets and art gallery chases with Theo dodging sculptures—the sighting feels like a soft launch. Will we hear Sharapova’s measured analysis echoing through Melbourne Park come January? Or is this just a mom’s bid to share her legacy with her mini-me? One thing’s certain: Theo’s courtside debut has the tennis world hooked, proving the Sharapova magic endures—now with a pint-sized co-star.