Russian Tennis great and defending Australian Open champion Maria Sharapova has had to withdraw from a tennis exhibition to be held in Hong Kong from January 7 to January 10.
It seems that 21-year-old Sharapova is still nursing an injured shoulder and is not tennis-fit enough to play in the upcoming exhibition. However, she is hoping that she will be prepared enough to compete in the upcoming Australian Open that starts January 19, 2009.
When asked about her withdrawal from the exhibition, she states “I’m just not ready to play against the top-class competition in Hong Kong.”
Her coach Max Eisenbud says that Sharapova is working hard to become ‘tennis fit’ and hopefully participate in the Australian Open that starts a few weeks from now.
Sharapova last match was in July 2008 against Marta Domachowska from Poland. The match lasted for three hours and later on ended in a victory for the Russian player. She was examined by her trainer in halfway through the match. She later on withdrew from the event. It was soon found out that Sharapova suffered from a torn rotator cuff tendon in her right shoulder.
Her time off the court has led Sharapova to slip from No. 1 on the world ranking to No. 9 by the end of the season. Russian player Anna Chakvetadze has taken Sharapova’s spot in the Hong Kong exhibition.