Former five-time Grand Slam Maria Sharapova said she was “ready for motherhood” and revealed it was something that she “dreamed of forever.” In July, Sharapova announced that she and her fiance Alexander Gilkes welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Theodore.
Sharapova, who retired from professional tennis in 2020, told NewBauty she finds her new role of being a mom exciting even though she admits she is still learning certain things about raising a baby. “That’s hard!
I think it depends on where you are in life; I can’t compare them. I was really ready for motherhood. It was something that I dreamed of forever. I have a really good relationship with my own mom—we’re really close and share a lot—and I’m an only child, so I felt like I was ready to have a child of my own and pass along my own experiences.
I’m really excited to watch this little boy grow up, although that is still incredibly hard because I’m still mostly trying to figure things out! Every day is a new day and every time you think you have something down, you realize you don’t.
There’s always something new to learn and about them and about yourself. That’s incredibly beautiful, but it’s also challenging,” Sharapova told NewBeauty.
Sharapova suggests tennis actually prepare her for her new role
When Sharapova was a pro tennis player, she had a packed schedule and it was all about tennis for pretty much the entire year.
Being a mom, Sharapova has a responsibility 24/7. Now, Sharapova suggests that tennis in some way prepared her for motherhood. “Sport is very challenging, too, because it keeps your feet on the ground every single day.
Particularly, as it was for me, tennis was something I had to play every single week and whether I won or lost in one week, I had to turn around and prove myself the next week. It was very demanding—you can never feel too comfortable or too confident in what you were doing.
I don’t know if that’s the best answer, but both roles are very hard, but in different ways,” Sharapova added.