Maria Yuryevna Sharapova is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis player. She competed on the WTA Tour from 2001 to 2020 and was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 21 weeks. She is one of ten women to achieve the career Grand Slam. She is also an Olympic medalist, having won silver in women's singles at the 2012 London Olympics. She has been considered as one of the best tennis competitors of her generation.

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova was born on 19 April 1987, in Nyagan, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. Her parents, Yuri Sharapov and Yelena, are from Gomel, Byelorussian SSR. Concerned about the regional effects of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, they left their homeland shortly before Maria was born.

In 2011, Sharapova was engaged to Slovenian professional basketball player Sasha Vujačić, with whom she had been in a relationship since 2009. On 31 August 2012, Sharapova confirmed that the pair had ended the engagement and separated earlier that year. Between 2012 and 2015, Sharapova dated Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov.

Since 2018, Sharapova has been in a relationship with British businessman Alexander Gilkes. In December 2020, Sharapova and Gilkes revealed they were engaged. In April 2022, Sharapova announced that they were expecting their first child. On 1 July 2022, she gave birth to a son.