FILE PHOTO: Tennis player Maria Sharapova poses at the premiere for "Battle of the Sexes" in Los Angeles, California, U.S., September 16, 2017. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
(Reuters) - Former world number one Maria Sharapova announced the birth of her first child Theodore on Friday, sharing a picture of the newborn along with her fiance.
"The most beautiful, challenging, and rewarding gift our little family could ask for," Sharapova, who is engaged to British businessman Alexander Gilkes, said in a post on Instagram.
The Russian five-time Grand Slam champion retired from tennis in 2020.
Although she competed under the Russian flag during her career - and is the only Russian woman to have won a career Grand Slam - Sharapova has lived in the United States since she came to the country as a young tennis prodigy.
(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
