{"id":181244,"date":"2025-06-13T14:01:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T14:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/181244\/"},"modified":"2025-06-13T14:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T14:01:10","slug":"maria-sharapova-unrecognisable-as-she-makes-rare-appearance-five-years-on-tennis-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/181244\/","title":{"rendered":"Maria Sharapova unrecognisable as she makes rare appearance five years on | Tennis | Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tennis ace Maria Sharapova surprised dedicated followers with her astonishing makeover, sporting a sophisticated brunette hairstyle, a stark contrast to her usual blonde tresses.<\/p>\n

The 38 year old tennis great, who hung up her racket in 2020, leapt into the limelight as a teenager by besting Serena Williams for the Wimbledon<\/a> crown at a mere 17. The five-time Grand Slam winner, known for maintaining her signature golden mane throughout her playing years, showcased her chic transformation during Hotel II Pellicano’s 60th-anniversary bash in Monte Argentario, Italy, this Monday \u2013 sparking fans to exclaim she was “unrecognisable”.<\/p>\n

Stepping out with her British beau Alex Gilkes, Sharapova’s new visage certainly commanded attention, with enthusiasts barely recognising the sports star sans her iconic platinum locks.<\/p>\n

Not least forgotten are Sharapova’s illustrious career achievements, including her full set of Grand Slam victories, complete with her initial Wimbledon<\/a> victory followed by a US Open win, an Australian Open<\/a> triumph, and two French Open titles.<\/p>\n

In addition to etching her name in history as the third-youngest woman ever to nab a Wimbledon<\/a> title, the Russian sensation proudly clinched the honour of being the first from her country to earn a career Grand Slam, capped off with an Olympic silver medal on London’s hallowed courts in 2012.<\/p>\n

Sharapova, once dubbed “the hottest athlete in the world” by Maxim for four years on the trot, boasts a career that spans beyond ace serves. Named among Forbes’ top 100 most mighty celebs from 2005 to 2011, Sharapova struck poses for Sports Illustrated too.<\/p>\n

Her tennis triumphs however were tarnished when in 2016 she faced a 15-month ban (shortened from two years) after testing positive for meldonium \u2013 a blip she ascribed to an oversight, asserting it was an accidental intake following her doctor\u2019s counsel, unaware of WADA’s prohibition.<\/p>\n

Post-retirement, the sporting superstar, followed by a whopping 4.6 million fans on Instagram<\/a>, has relished lavish getaways with fiance\u0301 Alexander Gilkes – their engagement announced in December 2020.<\/p>\n

Come July 2022, the couple introduced their bundle of joy, Theodore, into the world. Sharapova now embraces the new chapter as ‘Mama’ in her Insta bio.<\/p>\n

The former court queen, whose racket raked in over \u00a331 million, swapped Grand Slams for grand plans in business, launching sweet venture Sugarpova and backing supergoop during her play days.<\/p>\n

Raising her entrepreneurial game, she’s sunk investments into wellness outfit therabody and fashionably ascended to Moncler’s board of directors in 2022.<\/p>\n

Sharapova also serves as an advisor to brands such as Naked Retail and Bright, in addition to investing in a variety of other companies including UFC, Tonal, Public.com, Moonpay and Clio Snacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tennis ace Maria Sharapova surprised dedicated followers with her astonishing makeover, sporting a sophisticated brunette hairstyle, a stark…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[74586,2847,74585,6358,10095,79,1068,31635,74584,16,15,5068],"class_list":{"0":"post-181244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-business-ventures","9":"tag-entrepreneur","10":"tag-makeover","11":"tag-maria-sharapova","12":"tag-serena-williams","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tennis","15":"tag-tennis-section","16":"tag-tennis-retirement","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-wimbledon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114676425245770974","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181244","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=181244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}