Maria Sharapova may not be making her welcomed return at next week's Indian Wells tourney after all.
According to Maria Sharapova Blog, an inside source has confirmed the Russian glamazon will be pulling out due to the slow recovery from her shoulder injury and surgery. The former top lady baller hasn't been seen on the court since last August but was scheduled to compete at the Paris Open + Dubai before withdrawing. She had been spotted recently practicing at Nick Bollettieri's in preparation for her return to the WTA Tour.
Shrieka's still entered in the draw at the newly-name PNB Paribas Open, however, while her website has remained mum on the rumor.
If it's true, let's hope she gets healthy quickly and returns to action. However, I think at this point it's fair to say her long-term prospects have come seriously into question.
(image via topnews.com)
Friday, March 6, 2009
THE LOW DOWN: Is Shrieka preparing to withdraw from Indian Wells?
Labels: gossip, Indian Wells, injuries, Maria Sharapova, tennis
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I hate to say it, but I guess it is true.
ReplyDeleteThe one, who posted it on tennisforum is usally spot on with what he says.
So it's save to say that Masha will NOT play IW.
However, the woman who posted these youtube clips said that Maria would fly to L.A on saturday. Maybe to do some promotional work for the tournament... Hopefully she'll finally speak up about her plans for the future.
My guess is, that she just didn't want to play IW and Miami back-to-back and chose Miami over IW!
Anyway, I truely miss her on court :(
why would she want to play IW more than Miami? Because she had a lot more chance to go far in IW than Miami...the williamses are also playing Miami.
ReplyDeleteThis is very sad news, this injury is much more serious than she thought. Hope she will be back for Miaimi.
Good question anon - she's also won IW but hasn't won Miami either so you would think she'd want to return someplace where she's had more success.
ReplyDeleteClearly travel isn't a huge concern like it may have been for paris + dubai since she has homes relatively close to both tourneys.
if it's true it would def be really worrying news for shrieka
Maybe she chose Miami because it's the Sony Ericsson Open, with SE being one of her biggest sponsors, as well as IMG event.
ReplyDeleteAt least that's what I thought.
Honestly, I don't know, but I think it's about damn time that someone from her camp finally speaks out!
I really don't understand why they would want everybody to keep guessing instead of releasing a statement that would set the record straight.
All this silence begins to scare me tbh!
True enough Maja - why don't they try to preempt these rumors by releasing the info first? To make it a Maria Mystery Moment??
ReplyDeleteIt's all cryptic. It seems they're sorta winging it or something with no plan or strategy. Bad PR!
I've said for a while now that I think it's more serious than they want to let on. These tournaments stand to make money and Maria has a lot of endorsements, she has to keep them guessing and expecting.
ReplyDeleteWe often read that tournaments know that players won't be there but keep their name on the programs etc. to see the tickets on name recognition.
Her name isn't even on the player list at Indian Wells anymore, and it was last week I believe.
Jennifer Capriati anyone?
Umm .. that should read sell tickets, not see tickets. I wish this thing had an edit button.
ReplyDeleteMaria Mystery Moment!lol...
ReplyDelete@Pamela: Yeah, I thinks it's more serious as well.
Someone pointed out that in the last video you can see Maria receiving treatment on her shoulder in the background.
I her last doodle, Maria said she was perfectly healthy and just needed strenght and practise.
Maybe it's nothing and she just got a massage or sth, but maybe her shoulder still needs some time to fully recover...
oh come on that "shoulder" thing is getting old....
ReplyDeleteYes she withrew from IW
ReplyDeleteits sad
You guys are reaaly tough. Of course she is going to treat the shoulder gingerly. She has the potential for a long career. She is just beeing cautious which is smart.
ReplyDeleteIt has nothing to do with being tough. I think this latest withdrawal suggests that this shoulder injury is a lot more serious than the public has been led to believe.
ReplyDeleteI'm no Maria fan, but I think the WTA needs her in the mix so...yeah. Not good news.
she's still playing in IW but only in the doubles event with elena vesnina. i saw it on 2 tennis blogs now, they say that the news is from matt cronin.
ReplyDeleteas for the injury, yeah, it's kinda reminding me of what happened to j-cap. but i think that she and her team are being smart about it and taking their time to get her back into shape. hopefully, it pays off in the end. i need her back in the mix. it should've been her at the new york msg event instead of jj.