Maria Sharapova is among the vocal advocates lending their platforms to the Women’s Tennis Association’s latest initiative and partnership with UNICEF, to help close the women’s health gap through better health and nutrition resources for women and children worldwide. For the five-time Grand Slam champion and former tennis world number one, the partnership is personal.
“Personally, it was an incredibly important initiative, especially having my own experience with pregnancy and giving birth and realizing the simple things like prenatal vitamins and basic health care was readily available to me,” Sharapova told WWD. The former tennis player welcomed a son in July 2022 with fiancé Alexander Gilkes.
“In speaking with the WTA Foundation alongside UNICEF, understanding and realizing that not so many women around the world have access to those basic necessities really inspired me to get behind this.”
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Globally, women spend 25 percent more of their lives in poor health than men, according to the World Economic Forum. It’s a generational problem, exacerbated by poor nutrition, per UNICEF. But access to prenatal vitamins has the power to lower this statistic, as they dramatically reduce the risk of stillbirth, infant mortality and babies born small and vulnerable, and improve women’s health.
Nine in 10 women in low- to middle-income countries lack access to prenatal vitamins, according to Kirk Humanitarian. The WTA’s efforts to raise funds — even with a donation less than the cost of a tennis ball — can provide critical nutrition support to pregnant women in vulnerable communities, covering an entire pregnancy for both mother and baby. In 2024, the WTA Foundation’s Global Women’s Health Fund reached its fundraising target to help support 1 million women. The 2025 initiative and partnership is an extension of their efforts to support women and girls globally.
“Simple things like this was really an inspiration for me to get behind it,” Sharapova said.
For nearly two decades, Sharapova accumulated 36 career titles, several endorsements, media attention and more as a tennis player, one of the most dominant figures in the Open Era of the WTA. But since her 2020 retirement from the sport that made her a household name, Sharapova’s relationship with the WTA has evolved.
“I have a little bit more time [now] to really dedicate toward these initiatives,” she said.
Other tennis stars who’ve lent their voice to the initiative include four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka.
“I think as an active player with a very hectic schedule, you’re very selective and strategic as you are in your post-career. But I do have more of my time to dedicate toward these initiatives,” Sharapova said. “I think, as you go through life and you go through different chapters of it, you start recognizing, especially as a woman, the importance of health as you start raising a family and understanding the simple components of what’s needed in one’s daily basic health necessities.”
Stepping into this influential role and utilizing her platform to highlight global women’s health needs was never a question for Sharapova. It was only a matter of time and opportunity until the next occasion would arise where the former Grand Slam champion could use her influence, a lesson she learned as an adolescent from tennis great Billie Jean King.
“She touches so many lives,” Sharapova said of the feminist icon. “But she did so from a very early age in my career as a 14-year-old girl when I first met her,” she said.
“It’s easy for someone like that to speak to bigger names but I was just a young girl playing a junior tournament and I remember her coming up to me and having a fairly serious conversation around, ‘You have this ability to inspire the following generation after you.’ She was already letting me know that there will be a generation following mine and how I handle myself on and off the court eventually impacts the following generation,” Sharapova said.
“At that time, I think I was slightly overwhelmed, because I was still trying to find my own way. I hadn’t reached the top yet and I didn’t have the results yet. But she already instilled that mentality that ‘You inspire girls all around the world and it starts now. No matter how old you are.’”
With her eyes off the tennis court and on the future, Sharapova shared her enthusiasm for the ways in which tennis players have support to share their stories and use their platforms to a greater degree than before. “They’ve always had a platform, but I feel like collectively the ecosystem around them is supporting them on this journey and I truly hope they continue to support them on the journey,” she said.
As for the current field of active players, Sharapova shouted out a few tennis stars who’ve already left an indelible impact on the sport on and off the court. “I love Coco [Gauff],” Sharapova said. “I think she has such a great ability to transcend the sport. It’s hard to say she’s up-and-coming because she’s a Grand Slam champion; she’s already made it. But I think she really has the ability to win so much more. She has the game. She certainly has the power and I just love her presence. She’s a real star,” Sharapova continued.
Sharapova’s also been a fan of 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva of Russia, a player the five-time Grand Slam champion watched over the course of “the last year or so.…She’s 17 years old, which is an incredible statistic.” Andreeva is currently the youngest player in the top 20.
“There are so many players, so many great stories.”
