“I’m a workaholic” – Maria Sharapova makes bold admission about being a working mother and how her childhood ambitions still drive her

August 12, 2025

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Maria Sharapova has shed light upon being a working mother and opened up about how her childhood ambitions still encourage her to work. The former tennis player has a three-year-old son, Theodore.

Sharapova was one of the most prominent names in the tennis community, considering her stellar play over the course of her career, during which she won a total of 36 WTA singles titles. She retired from the sport in 2020 after competing at the Australian Open. Following this, she started a new chapter of her life as she got engaged to Alexander Gilkes in December 2020. The two welcomed their son in 2022.

The Russian appeared on Andy Roddick’s podcast, ‘Served with Andy Roddick’, where she fielded questions surrounding the ins and outs of being a working mother. Calling herself a workaholic, she expressed her feelings about being ambitious ever since she was a teenager and how it is still driving her (1:12:30 onwards).

“If I'm gonna leave my baby, I mean, he's not a baby anymore, but if I'm gonna leave my home and my family, it better be worth it. I better be so excited about where I'm going and who I'm working with and what I'm building. And that's so much more important than, and I realize how unique that position is, you know, at 38 years old. I really, I recognize it and I'm so grateful for it, but I'm also a workaholic. I don't know any other way. Like, I've been ambitious since I was a very young girl," said Maria Sharapova.

Sharapova recently went on a beach vacation with her son, Theo, and shared glimpses of the outing on her Instagram story.

Maria Sharapova made her feelings known about handling motherhood and her son

Maria Sharapova once sat for an interview with the Tennis Channel, where she opened up about being a mother and handling her son, Theo. She revealed how parenthood had been for her and how she has been applying some of the skills she learned in her career while fulfilling her role as a mother.

"It's going. There's a lot of negotiation skills that go on with parenthood which I didn't know that the negotiations that I learned through my career in business and in the sport that I would apply to parenthood. But I'm learning about that every day. You got to give something to take something," Maria Sharapova said.

Maria Sharapova further said that motherhood was the 'best thing' that happened to her and then spoke about the experiences she will get to have with him.

About the author

An English Honors graduate, Nancy is a journalist at Sportskeeda covering US Olympic sports. She has a total experience of 4 years, having previously worked as a Marketing Executive for BYJU’S before finding her footing at SK.

To deliver the best content, Nancy keeps herself updated by reading as much as possible about the athletes and the sport, and believes that researching and trusting credible sources is the key to reporting ethical and accurate information.

Track and Field events particularly interest Nancy, and she is a fan of Allyson Felix. While she cherished each of her victories, her favorite Olympic moment happens to be the retired athlete’s 10th medal at the Games.

Nancy believes that covering the personal lives and training sessions of the Olympic athletes, and showcasing old podcasts or interviews would help bridge the coverage gap of the sport in its off season.

When away from her keyboard, Nancy spends most of her free time reading books. She also writes poems and plans on publishing a book.

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