Sharapova to be absent from Wimbledon

Russian Maria Sharapova has announced that she will not be able to take part in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tournament in Birmingham and the season's third Grand Slam tournament at Wimbledon due to a thigh injury she suffered in Rome.

"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," Sharapova wrote on Facebook on Saturday.

"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," the 30-year-old said.

"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 (July 31 to August 6)."

Sharapova was leading Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the final set of their second round encounter when she was forced to retire, prematurely ending her clay court season.

This spring, Sharapova resumed participation in tournaments after a 15-month disqualification for an instance of non-compliance with anti-doping rules. First, she got to the semi-finals of the tournament in Stuttgart, reports Tass news agency.

She lost in the second round in the next tournament in Madrid. In mid-May, she got to the second round in Rome but had to pull out because of a thigh injury.

Plans suggested Sharapova would take part in the Wimbledon qualifying competition, as she did not ask the organisers for the wildcard that would open the doors to the main tournament for her.

--IANS

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