Maria Sharapova, 35, says she absolutely loves this position where she can come to a tennis tournament and just be a tennis spectator. Sharapova, a former five-time Grand Slam champion, retired from pro tennis after the 2020 Australian Open. This Monday, Sharapova came to follow the opening day of this year’s US Open. “I love it. I love having an outsider’s perspective. I love watching the new generations unfold, and the sport in general. In fact, I think the US Open is the only tennis event that I’ve been to in person since I retired. It’s a really special one, with the energy of the crowds there,” Sharapova told People.
Maria Sharapova© Getty Images Sport – Matthew Stockman
Sharapova happy with her current life
Last year, Sharapova became a mother for the first time when she welcomed her son Theodore. In recent years and times, there have been several cases of players returning to tennis after pregnancy but Sharapova won’t be going that route. “I’m very happy with where I am at this stage of life. I appreciate what the sport has taught me and where it’s taken me, but I definitely love seeing it from the outside now,” Sharapova said. Sharapova, a former world No 1, also revealed the lessons that tennis taught her. “You learn so many lessons as a professional tennis player, and one of the biggest ones is how to handle yourself whether you win or whether you lose. There are so many things you can’t control, and that’s OK. You have to learn to accept that, which for me was always a work in progress. But you also learn how you take care of your body, and ask yourself, are you eating nutritious foods? Are you drinking enough water? So all those components of being an athlete are just incredible educational tools for taking you to different parts of your life, like parenthood,” Sharapova said.