Maria Sharapova Forced To Drop Out Of Brisbane

Written by: Staff on 2nd January 2013

Maria Sharapova Forced To Drop Out Of Brisbane |

Maria Sharapova will begin the Australian Open in a fortnight without a 2013 match after withdrawing from the Brisbane International with a right collarbone injury which has troubled her for a few weeks.

But the world No. 2 remains optimistic that all will come right for the first Grand Slam of the season January 14. The injury had prevented her from playing a post-Christmas exhibition in South Korea. Sharapova was to have played Australian Jarmila Gajdosova in the Brisbane first round to start the new season.

But it was not to be. “I had a bit of inflammation in my collarbone. My doctor in New York told me I couldn’t really do much overhead training for about a week,” she said. “Ï haven’t really given myself a chance to pretty much hit any serves or anything over my head. Just been practicing groundstrokes. I just ran out of time here.”

The LA-based Russian said she would enter the Open without match play after electing to skip next week’s WTA event in Sydney as a wild card. “I still have quite a bit of time to prepare for the Australian Open,” she added. “I’m on the right track, been training really well, so I just don’t want to jeopardize what I’ve gained in the off-season so far.

“I just have to make a smart move here.”

She said that starting in Melbourne without match play would not be a drama. “I have my own fair share of experience, and know that it’s much more important to be healthy to go into a big tournament like the Australian Open than to go into something big with a lot of matches and feel like you’re not prepared health-wise.

“You never know with these things. There are so many parts of the body where I’m sure if every one of us did an examination we would find a lot things wrong with us. When I started back here I was feeling much better, but just like I said, couldn’t do much overhead stuff and ran out of time.”

©Daily tennis News Wire

Topics: Australian Open, Brisbane tennis news, Jarmila Gajdosova, Maria Sharapova, Sports, tennis injury, Tennis News