‘I’m a pro at caressing the couch’: Russian tennis icon Maria Sharapova is hailed as an artist after revealing latest home designs

Tennis legend Maria Sharapova has continued her life beyond tennis by revealing that she has created her own range of high-end furniture, coming at the end of a week in which she offered "emotional" praise for healthcare workers.

The five-time Grand Slam champion regularly treats her millions of fans to insights into her architectural and artistic passions – and now she has provided a glossy video of herself perching on some of her first designs.

Taking to Instagram, the 33-year-old said she was "up close and personal" with the works, which received an avalanche of positive responses from fans and design professionals.

“I’m a pro at caressing the couch,” she added somewhat seductively, describing her collection as "extremely comfortable", "minimal" and possessing "beautiful textures."

“What started as a design workshop back when I was training in Italy became an essential living room set today," she explained, rueing that everyone had come to know the inside of their houses "all too well recently."

In another nod to the pandemic earlier in the week, Sharapova said she was "grateful" and "emotional" to medical professionals.

“Thank you to all the healthcare workers who have worked so swiftly and courageously to keep us protected," she wrote on Twitter, accompanying her words with a photo of herself wearing a face mask. 

The uploads follow a seminar last weekend in which Sharapova talked about her approach to business.

"It is so important to be patient because every diligent move that you make, every smart move that you make, might not pay off tomorrow," she said, reflecting on her partnership with a health and beauty brand.

"You have to take a lot of chances in order to see rewards. You have to invest in people with your time and energy."