Maria Sharapova is set to miss the grass court season, which includes the biggest grand slam, Wimbledon, where she was scheduled to undergo qualifying rounds. She pulled out of the tournament, citing muscle injury.
The Russian sensation posted an official statement on Facebook, and wants to work towards recovery.
"After an additional scan, the muscle tear that I sustained in Rome will unfortunately not allow me to compete in the grass court tournaments I was scheduled to play."
"I want to thank the LTA for their amazing support on my return and providing me with a Birmingham wild card, a tournament which I hope many of you will be able to attend. I look forward to meeting you there next year. I will continue to work on my recovery and my next scheduled tournament is in Stanford."
This must have been tough on Sharapova, who has been bagging off-court headlines after her comeback from drug ban. Several players have also criticised the organisers in giving her wildcards for some tournaments though Sharapova had made it clear that she would fight it out from scratch in Wimbledon via qualifying.
Things are not looking good for the former world number one, who was not given a wildcard at the French Open. Now, an injury has kept her out of Wimbledon qualifying.
Sharapova is only expected to make a comeback at the end of next month, which means her ranking will not improve and her US Open participation will also be in doubt. The US Open starts on August 28.
She might, once again, have to depend on wildcard for the US Open, and with granting her wildcard grabbing negative criticism, one would not be surprised if Sharapova would once again take to the qualifying rounds for the US Open as well.
