Maria Sharapova is a Russian-born professional tennis player and former WTA world number 1. At 18, Sharapova reached the top of the WTA rankings for the first time in August 2005 and has since had 4 more stints as the number 1 in women’s tennis. His name, 3 doubles titles, 5 Grand Slam titles and an Olympic silver medal, this Russian-born tennis star is undoubtedly one of the greatest athletes of our generation.
For 11 straight years, Sharapova maintained her lead as the highest-paid female sports star on Forbes list until 2016 when she was overtaken by longtime rival Serena Williams. In addition to her long-standing professional career, Maria Sharapova has also made headlines thanks to her extrajudicial associations. The former world number one has had a relatively busy and interesting dating schedule as she has been involved in a number of high profile relationships.
From sports stars to music stars, other high-profile celebrities and business leaders, Maria Sharapova has never been short of dating options. Let’s dive into the relationship history of the former tennis world No. 1; a starry array of past boyfriends, engagements, near marriages and everything in between.
Maria Sharapova relationship timeline
Adam Levine
Maria Sharapova’s first publicly known relationship dates back to 2005, when she reportedly had a fling with Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine. The duo reportedly reunited after the singer performed at the tennis star’s 18th birthday bash. However, the relationship didn’t last beyond a few dates and almost ended as soon as it started.
Charlie Ebersol
Russian-born Maria Sharapova also had a brief relationship with American television producer and director, Charlie Ebersol. In addition to his own thriving career, Ebersol is well known as the son of veteran television producer and top NBC executive, Dick Ebersol. It is not yet known when their relationship officially started, however, the couple have been seen together in public on several occasions. The duo eventually broke up before the end of 2008.
Sasha Vujacic
The gorgeous blonde tennis star also dated Slovenian-born professional basketball player Sasha Vujačić in 2009. At 6ft 2 inches tall, Sharapova was a great match for 6ft 7 Vujačić and the duo was a feast for the eyes in addition to to be the ultimate sports power couple. The NBA star was also very supportive of his tennis star girlfriend as he showed up for most of her matches. After dating for 2 years, Sharapova and Sasha Vujačić announced their engagement in October 2011 much to the delight of sports fans around the world.
However, things turned sour on August 31, 2012, when Sharapova revealed in an interview that they had called off the engagement. According to the tennis star, they ended the engagement in the spring of the same year, but the reason for the breakup was not revealed.
Grigor Dimitrov
Several months after her first canceled engagement, Maria Sharapova quickly returned to the dating scene. The tennis ace started dating Bulgarian-born tennis player Grigor Dimitrov in late 2012. As expected, Dimitrov reportedly noticed Sharapova after watching her play at a tennis tournament. Hypnotized by her prowess on the court, the tennis hunk received Sharapova’s email from her agent and as they say, the rest is history.
After about 2 years of dating, the relationship between the tennis stars ended in July 2015. According to Dimitrov, the spill was meant to allow him to devote his full attention to his own career.
It appears the tennis star took a freeze from the dating scene following her breakup with Grigor Dimitrov, as she was not known to have been involved with anyone for a relatively long period of time. It was further complicated in 2016 when she was slammed with a lengthy ban after failing a drug test. When the ban expired, the powerhouse of tennis returned to the sport in 2017 with hopes of a strong comeback.
Alexander Gilkes
In early 2018, having effectively got her career back on track, Sharapova also returned to the dating scene by being linked to multi-millionaire business executive Alexander Gilkes. Gilkes is the president and co-founder of online auction house Paddle8. The relationship between the duo reportedly began in January 2018.
