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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Fraser Watson

Former Wimbledon champion looks totally unrecognisable just three years after she retired

She was once considered to have one of the most famous sporting faces on then planet - but one former Grand Slam champion is now barely recognisable.

Maria Sharapova burst onto the scene in 2004 be becoming the darling of Wimbledon, beating Lindsey Davenport in the final at the age of just 17. It proved the platform for a storybook career, latter winning two French Open titles, as well as both the Australian and US Open - to go with Olympic gold in 2012.

But it wasn't just on the court where she won awards and honours. In 2006, Maxim ranked the Russian star 'the hottest athlete in the world' for the fourth consecutive year. That same year, she posed in a bikini photoshoot spread in the 2006 Valentine's Day issue of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

But those who followed the star in her heyday would have to look twice at her latest pictures on Instagram. Sharapova retired more than three years ago following the 2020 Australian Open, and to put it mildly, has changed her look in her time away.

The 36-year-old has ditched her famous blonde look, now a sporting a much darker hairdo. And she recently posed for snaps at the Monaco Grand Prix, looking completely different from her tennis playing days.

Sharapova has successfully gone into business since walking away from the sport, and last year became a member of member of Board of Directors of fashion brand Moncler. Numerous other ventures include her acting as an advisor to brands like Naked Retail and Bright.

HAVE YOUR SAY! Is Maria Sharapova one of the all-time greats? Comment below.

Sharapova at the Cannes Lions festival last month (INSTAGRAM@https://www.instagram.com/mariasharapova/)
Sharapova at the Monaco Grand Prix (INSTAGRAM@https://www.instagram.com/mariasharapova/)

And further pics were uploaded from last month Cannes Lions festival, as well as a holiday at Lake Como in Italy. And her 4.5 million followers reacted by showering the former star with compliments, clearly not deterred by her new appearance.

Sharapova is now a mother, with baby son Theodore born in July 2022. Now based in Florida, she was once considered one of the most marketable sportspeople in the world, winning £31 million in career prize money and more than £230 million in sponsorship and endorsements.

But her legacy was tainted in 2016 when she was handed a 15-month ban for failing a drugs test for the banned substance meldonium. She took full responsibility for the saga, but claimed she innocently took the substance as medicine, unaware that WADA rules had changed.

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