{"id":173899,"date":"2025-06-10T21:03:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T21:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/173899\/"},"modified":"2025-06-10T21:03:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T21:03:12","slug":"former-wimbledon-champions-looks-unrecogniseable-as-she-dazzles-at-event-in-italy-five-years-after-retiring-from-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/173899\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Wimbledon champions looks unrecogniseable as she dazzles at event in Italy five years after retiring from tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"mol-bullets-with-font\">\n<li class=\"\"><strong><b>The star rocketed to fame when she won the tournament in 2004 at the age of 17<\/b><\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"\"><strong><b>She has opted for a more natural look since retiring from playing five years ago<\/b><\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"mol-style-bold\"><strong>Partner\u00a0Alex Gilkes joined her in\u00a0Monte Argentario, Italy, on Monday for the event<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"author-section byline-plain\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/profile-1101\/lewis-browning.html\" class=\"author\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LEWIS BROWNING<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-section\"> Published:  13:15 EDT, 10 June 2025   |  Updated:  13:15 EDT, 10 June 2025   <\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">A former <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/wimbledon\/index.html\" id=\"mol-e4abbe40-461a-11f0-94c8-3fcd44d6a4df\" rel=\"noopener\">Wimbledon<\/a> champion looked unrecogniseable at the 60th anniversary celebration of the Hotel II Pellicano in Monte Argentario, Italy, on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The next Grand Slam on the tennis calendar gets underway on June 30, where Barbora Krejcikova will be looking to defend the women&#8217;s singles title she won on Centre Court 12 months ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">But one of the more famous champions to grace the court is Russia&#8217;s <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/maria_sharapova\/index.html\" id=\"mol-e4a94d40-461a-11f0-94c8-3fcd44d6a4df\" rel=\"noopener\">Maria Sharapova<\/a>, who famously won the title in 2004 as a 17-year-old, when she beat <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/serena_williams\/index.html\" id=\"mol-e4aa37a0-461a-11f0-94c8-3fcd44d6a4df\" rel=\"noopener\">Serena Williams<\/a> in the final.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The now-38-year-old went on to win all four Grand Slam titles &#8211; the <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/french_open\/index.html\" id=\"mol-e4ab7020-461a-11f0-94c8-3fcd44d6a4df\" rel=\"noopener\">French Open<\/a> twice &#8211; before calling a day on her career five years ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">She has continued to focus on her investment portfolio since retiring, and attended Monday night&#8217;s party alongside fiance Alex Gilkes and the likes of\u00a0Michel Martone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Sharapova looked unrecigniseable from her playing days, donning long brown hair rather than her famous blone, while she dazzled in a see-through black top and long black trousers.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-5c7eb8408cbcb578\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/99229139-0-image-m-18_1749573286692.jpg\" height=\"829\" width=\"634\" alt=\"A former Wimbledon champion looked unrecogniseable on Monday ahead of the start of the 2025 edition of the competition\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">A former Wimbledon champion looked unrecogniseable on Monday ahead of the start of the 2025 edition of the competition<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-cfdddc9bfe693692\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/99229137-0-image-a-19_1749573301001.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Maria Sharapova retired from tennis in 2020 and has opted for a more natural look in her post-playing days\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Maria Sharapova retired from tennis in 2020 and has opted for a more natural look in her post-playing days<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-9189c7565e7be691\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/99229837-0-image-a-20_1749573853039.jpg\" height=\"461\" width=\"634\" alt=\"The Russian rocketed to fame when she beat Serena Williams to win Wimbledon in 2004\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">The Russian rocketed to fame when she beat Serena Williams to win Wimbledon in 2004<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The former Wimbledon champion <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/tennis\/article-10988165\/Emma-Raducanu-ask-Maria-Sharapova-best-handle-fame-says-Marion-Bartoli.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">rocketed to fame<\/a> when she beat top seed and defending champion Williams 21 years ago to win her first Grand Slam at just 17.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Since retiring in 2020, Sharapova has favoured a more natural look to her playing days and a number of fans have been in agreement, after a double take, on her social media profiles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">During her storied time on court, Sharapova become the first Russian player to complete the career Grand Slam after wins in Melbourne, New York, Paris and London and the third-youngest woman to triumph at Wimbledon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">But her career was marred by a <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/tennis\/article-12021795\/Genie-Bouchard-digs-Maria-Sharapova-feud-beating-Dayana-Yastremska.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">2016 failed drugs test<\/a>, which saw Sharapova suspended for two years after she was found to have ingested meldonium, a substance which had been banned at the start of that year, ahead of the Australian Open.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Her suspension was later reduced to 15 months after she was found to have taken the drug as per her doctor&#8217;s advice, and Sharapova returned to competition in April 2017, and won the\u00a0Tianjin Open seven months later.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">After struggling with chronic shoulder issues for a number of years, Sharapova announced her retirement in 2020, sharing an emotional goodbye message with her followers that spoke to her deep connection to the game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;How do you leave behind the only life you&#8217;ve ever known?,&#8217; Sharapova wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;How do you walk away from the courts you&#8217;ve trained on since you were a little girl, the game that you love &#8211; one which brought you untold tears and unspeakable joys &#8211; a sport where you found a family, along with fans who rallied behind you for more than 28 years?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I&#8217;m new to this, so please forgive me. Tennis &#8211; I&#8217;m saying goodbye.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>                    Share or comment on this article:<br \/>\n                        Former Wimbledon champions looks unrecogniseable as she dazzles at event in Italy five years after retiring from tennis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The star rocketed to fame when she won the tournament in 2004 at the age of 17 She&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[92,2199,6358,332,10095,93,79,1068,16,15,5068],"class_list":{"0":"post-173899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-italy","10":"tag-maria-sharapova","11":"tag-russia","12":"tag-serena-williams","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-tennis","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-wimbledon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114661097785872053","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}