NEW YORK (AFP, REUTERS) - Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1, announced on Friday (July 15) that she has given birth to a baby boy named Theodore.

He is the first child for the 35-year-old retired Russian tennis star and British businessman Alexander Gilkes, 42, who announced their engagement in December 2020.

"The most beautiful, challenging, and rewarding gift our little family could ask for," Sharapova posted on Instagram, indicating in Roman numerals that Theodore was born on July 1.

Sharapova, who had revealed in April that she was pregnant, is among only 10 women to complete the career Grand Slam by capturing all four major singles crowns at least once.

In 2004, she won her first major title at Wimbledon at age 17, followed by the 2006 US Open, 2008 Australian Open and the 2012 and 2014 French Open crowns.

Sharapova also earned a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics, losing to American Serena Williams in the final.

She 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.