Maria Sharapova may be retired from tennis, but she’s just getting started with pickleball. The 36-year-old champion shared pictures of herself posing in head-to-toe black workout gear, holding a pickleball paddle on the court. “From the WTA Tour to the FS Tour. We are thrilled to have Maria Sharapova as part of the Franklin Family, playing with our FS Tour Series of pickleball paddles. Smaller court, different gear, same competitive drive. Less than two weeks until Maria puts the FS Tour on display at The Pickleball Slam 2,” reads the caption. Here’s what Sharapova is up to when she’s not taking part in Pickleball competitions.
Sharapova’s workout routine is yoga flow sessions and boxing. “I’ve started doing a lot of one-on-one boxing at the beach,” she told Well+Good. “It’s such a great cardio workout with a lot of unexpected movements, and I love the focus it requires… That’s my current regimen: boxing typically three times a week, with a yoga flow workout mixed in between for recovery on the off-days. I try to fit in a yoga flow to focus on stretching.”
Sharapova moved from Russia to Florida when she was six years old, and immediately started using SPF to protect her skin from the sun. “From that first day that my mom and I got there, she was so adamant about making sure that I applied SPF and that I reapplied it. I remember thinking, ‘Wait, why do I need this at such a young age?’ But she would always remind me of the basics of aging and skin cancer. Of course, when you’re young, you have wonderful skin, and you recover so fast and you don’t have that many wrinkles…and you think that’s going to be the case forever. But something did ‘stick’ with me that prevention might be smart.”
Sharapova drinks at least three liters water throughout the day, sometimes with added lemon. “Everyone is different with how much water they need, but I think you kind of get to know your body as you start drinking more,” she told Us Weekly. “I always notice when I don’t [drink enough], especially when I’m traveling. I 100 percent notice a difference in my body and how dehydrated I feel and also my face — my pores become a bit clogged. It’s not fun.”
Sharapova welcomed son Theodore in 2022, and says she’s still working on balance. “I was really ready for motherhood,” she told New Beauty. “It was something that I dreamed of forever. I have a really good relationship with my own mom—we’re really close and share a lot—and I’m an only child, so I felt like I was ready to have a child of my own and pass along my own experiences. I’m really excited to watch this little boy grow up, although that is still incredibly hard because I’m still mostly trying to figure things out! Every day is a new day and every time you think you have something down, you realize you don’t.”
Sharapova is proud of everything she has achieved. “When you win a Grand Slam, when you become No 1 in the world, it’s a phenomenal feeling – and you don’t have anything to prove,” she told The Telegraph. “Giving up is not part of my character, I’ve overcome so many challenges throughout my career – the road from Siberia to Centre Court is a long one. I wanted to perform for myself.”