Tennis ace Maria Sharapova announces engagement to British art dealer Alexander Gilkes

The pair, who have been dating since 2018, shared the news on Instagram

Tennis star Maria Sharapova has announced her engagement to British art dealer Alexander Gilkes. Alexander Gilkes / Instagram

Tennis ace Maria Sharapova has announced her engagement to British art dealer Alexander Gilkes.

The Wimbledon champion revealed the news on Thursday via Instagram, letting her 4.1 million followers in on her “little secret”.

“I said yes from the first day we met. This was our little secret, wasn’t it @gilkesa,” she wrote, alongside pictures and two playful videos of the couple.

Gilkes also shared the news on his Instagram page, writing: “Thank you for making me a very very happy boy and saying yes. I look forward to a lifetime of loving you, and learning from you.”

Who is Alexander Gilkes?

Alexander Gilkes is a British art dealer, and co-founder of online auction house Paddle8. A student at England’s prestigious Eton college, he counts the likes of Prince Harry, Princess Eugenie and Pippa Middleton among his close friends.

In fact, Gilkes was married to Meghan Markle's best friend, fashion designer Misha Nonoo, between 2012 and 2016. Nonoo went on to marry oil heir Mikey Hess in an extravagant wedding in Rome in 2019, attended by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom, James Corden and Sir Paul McCartney. The pair welcomed a baby boy in March.

Gilkes has been dating Sharapova since 2018. It will be the first wedding for the Russian tennis ace, who previously dated fellow pro Grigor Dimitrov.