Maria Sharapova walks in a spectacular tennis ball gown without fiancé as Serena and Venus Williams look on

She was a champion on the court for several years, now Maria Sharapova is bringing a slice of Wimbledon to the Met Gala after wowing in a tennis-themed dress.

The Russian-American star turned up to Monday’s exclusive event in New York in a tennis ball-hued neon dress, which certainly caught the eye of onlookers.

Sharapova, 37, was inspired by her sport as she caught the eye in an off-the-shoulder yellow tiered dress – paired with a sweeping lime green jacket.

The star wore flowers in her sleek updo and donned a smoky shadow and taupe-colored lipstick for the event.

The Costume Institute’s spring exhibition falls on the first Monday in May every year and is held at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. This year the event is titled Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion while the dress code is The Garden of Time.

Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya, Bad Bunny and Chris Hemsworth are this year’s co-chairs, with Vogue Magazine’s chief Anna Wintour also on the committee. The honorary chairs for the evening were Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.

“This year’s co-chairs reflect a variety of career achievements, and all have distinct style histories with the Met Gala,” Vogue said.

There was no sign of her fiancé, businessman Alexander Gilkes, with whom she shares a two-year-old son. Fortunately, there were some familiar faces at the event to ensure she wasn’t alone.

The Williams sisters understand the assignment

Joining Sharapova at the star-studded event were her former tennis colleagues, 23-time Major winner Serena Williams and her sister Venus, who is still playing tennis at the age of 43.

Serena has a long affiliation at the Met Gala, having been a co-chair in 2019, and she used the event in 2023 to announce she was pregnant with her second child. Like Sharapova, Serena was present without her other half, Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian.

Instead, she walked the red carpet solo in a gold foik Balenciaga dress which took 150 hours to make. After the event, she revealed that Disney princess Belle was her inspiration. In an Instagram post, she captioned her photo: “Going for the gold.”

Meanwhile, Venus joined her sister in a glittering look, wearing a Marc Jacobs number that featured tiny mirrors – only for one of them to break during the evening.