“From Grand Slams to Growing Family: Maria Sharapova Pregnant Again at 38”

Maria Sharapova has always done things on her own terms. Five Grand Slam titles, 36 weeks as World No. 1, a 15-month doping suspension she fought back from, retirement at 32 on her own pen-and-paper terms, and now, at 38, she’s writing the next chapter exactly how she wants it: a second baby on the way with fiancé Alexander Gilkes.

The announcement came quietly, the Sharapova way, with a single Instagram post on November 28, 2025. No elaborate photoshoot, no sponsored partnership, just Maria in soft natural light at home in a cream knit dress, hands cradling a gentle bump, and the simple caption: “Our family is growing, can’t wait to meet you, little one.” Within hours the photo racked up millions of likes and a flood of messages from Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, and longtime fans who watched her grow from the ponytailed 17-year-old who stunned the world at Wimbledon 2004 to the poised mother-of-soon-two she is today.

This will be the second child for Sharapova and Gilkes, the British art dealer and Paddle8 co-founder she began dating in 2018. Their son Theodore arrived in July 2022, and Sharapova has spoken openly about how motherhood shifted her famously intense drive into something softer yet no less purposeful. “Tennis taught me discipline and resilience,” she told Vogue last year. “But Theodore taught me patience and presence. Those are harder lessons.”

At 38, Sharapova is part of a growing wave of elite athletes choosing motherhood later in life: Serena welcomed her second daughter at 41, Allyson Felix had her second at 37, and now Maria joins the conversation. She’s been candid about the physical and emotional realities of pregnancy in her late thirties, posting occasional workout clips that blend prenatal Pilates with the same meticulous form she once applied to her two-handed backhand.

Days after the pregnancy reveal, she made her first public appearance at the 2025 CFDA Fashion Awards in a scarlet gown that hugged her early bump, proving that the woman who once wore Swarovski-encrusted tennis dresses for night matches at the US Open still knows how to command a red carpet. The look was classic Sharapova: bold color, clean lines, zero apology.

Off the court, her post-tennis life remains quietly prolific. She’s a strategic investor in wellness and lifestyle brands, a UNICEF ambassador, and a UCLA Anderson MBA student when her schedule allows. Sugarpova, her candy brand, has wound down, but the entrepreneurial itch is still there, she’s hinted at new projects that “make sense for this season of life.”

For someone who spent two decades under the brightest lights in sport, Sharapova has mastered the art of stepping away on her own terms, first from competition, now into this new expansion of family. The little sibling Theodore will meet sometime in mid-2026 won’t know the roar of Centre Court or the sting of a 105-mph serve, but they’ll grow up watching their mother build a legacy that’s no longer measured in trophies, but in the quieter, deeper victories of a life deliberately, fiercely lived.

From Grand Slams to growing family, Maria Sharapova is still winning, just with a different kind of scoreboard.