SHARAPOVA INJURY WOES CONTINUE AS SHE IS FORCED TO PULL OUT OF THE US OPEN TENNIS BY ROS SATAR

Sharapova injury woes continue as she is forced to pull out of the US Open

The summer of discontent in the US continues for the World No. 3 Maria Sharapova after she was forced to withdraw from the US Open for just the second time in her career.

The Russian last played the Wimbledon semi-final against eventual winner Serena Williams, before an injury sustained in training then ruled her out of the entire lead-up to the US Open. She pulled out of Cincinnati before her first round match, and on the eve of starting her campaign against Daria Gavrilova, she made the announcement through her Facebook page.

 

“Unfortunately I will not be able to compete in this year’s US Open. I have done everything possible to be ready but it was just not enough time. To all my amazing fans, I will be back in the Asian swing in a few weeks and look forward to finishing the year healthy and strong.”

 

She injured her right leg in Toronto, explaining to us in Cincinnati that it was just one of those training injuries at the time, and that her two withdrawals were precautionary but despite meeting her media obligations prior to the start of the competition, she conceded that there is still the rest of the season to think about.

 

She poignantly wrote a further message to fans on her website.

 

In her absence, another Russian joins the draw, Daria Kasatkina who now comes in as a lucky loser.

 

What this means in the draw

The second quarter now opens up quite considerably, and the way is clear for another Russian to shine again in New York as Ekaterina Makarova made her way to the semi-final last year, and certainly her path to the frees up a lot now (where she was slated to face Sharapova) opens up quite considerably.

 

Ana Ivanovic can probably breathe a little sigh of relief too as she was looking at a head on clash as the highest seed in that quarter.

 

And in terms of the Career Slam for Serena – she is looking even more likely to reign supreme in that half of the bracket.

 

What about the rest of the season?

Sharapova is third in the race to Singapore, and she has her eyes now firmly set on the Asian swing. A lot of the chasing pack in the race have had varying fortunes this season with strong wins and then worrying losing streaks, so her total of 4321 points this year with just 13 tournaments under her belt stands her in great stead compared to her nearest rival Lucie Safarova, at over 1000 points behind with 3213 and 17 tournaments done.

 

She has some solid time to recover and build up training without racing the clock to get ready in time for her next tournament, and we will be expecting to see wildcards being offered to key tournaments in the Asian swing.

The US Open starts on Monday.

 

Ros Satar is a regular contributor to 10sballs.com and runs Britwatch Sports (@britwatchsports), because we Brits like watching sport. Occasionally we’re good at it.

 

Topics: 10sballs.com, 2015 US Open, Maria Sharapova, New York, Ros Satar, Sports, Tennis News, Wta

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