Maria Sharapova Withdraws From Grass Season, Wimbledon

Some late breaking news, Maria Sharapova will not play on the grass this year due to a left thigh injury.

Sharapova injured her thigh in a loss to Mirjana Lucic in Rome last month, and it came on the same day of the announcement the French had denied her a wildcard into their event.

Well, it turns out this injury was significant enough for her to miss Birmingham, where she had a main draw wildcard, and Wimbledon where she was scheduled to play the qualies.

“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 said. “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. 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.”

I guess we’ll see her on the hard courts in North America where there will be no wildcard controversies because on this continent tennis needs all the help it can get.