MARIA SHARAPOVA pulled out of the US Open for the second time in three years on Sunday, withdrawing on the eve of the tournament because of a lingering right-leg injury.
The US Tennis Association announced the withdrawal via a press release at about the same time that Sharapova, who won the title in New York in 2006, posted the news on 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,” Sharapova’s message said. “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.”
In 2013 Sharapova skipped the US Open because of a right-shoulder injury. She also missed the Grand Slam tournament played on hard courts in Flushing Meadows in 2008, when she was off the tour for about 10 months because of surgery on her right shoulder.
Sharapova has not played a match on tour since losing to No. 1-ranked Serena Williams in the Wimbledon semifinals in July. The 28-year-old Russian withdrew from hard-court tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati in August, citing a right-leg strain.
“From a player’s perspective you always have to believe in the ability to go through the little things that you might have. Physically, that’s part of sports, unfortunately,” Sharapova said in an interview this month. “There’s no athlete who’s ever 100-percent healthy.”
Sharapova is a five-time major champion who was going to be seeded No. 3 for the US Open, where play begins on Monday. She was drawn to possibly face Williams—who is bidding for tennis’s first calendar-year Grand Slam since 1988—in the semifinals.
The USTA said that Daria Kasatkina, an 18-year-old Russian who is ranked 133rd, is the lucky loser who will replace Sharapova in the main draw.
HOPING FOR NEW MEMORIES
RAFAEL NADAL’S memories of his lone match against Borna Coric are a bit fuzzy, which is understandable.
When the two met in the Swiss Indoors last October, Nadal had just decided to undergo season-ending appendix surgery once his run in the tournament ended. That would come against Coric, a gifted teen from Croatia who won that day in straight sets against a sluggish Nadal.
“It was a tough moment of the year for me,” the 14-time Grand Slam champion recalled on Saturday.
“I don’t remember it very well, but I think I played very bad,” Nadal added, laughing.
The two men face off for the second time on Monday, and for good reason, US Open organizers believe it could be a compelling match. It closes out the night session at Arthur Ashe Stadium as the year’s final Grand Slam tournament begins.
Coric just missed out on a seed with a ranking of 35th, making the 18-year-old a particularly difficult first-round matchup for a top player.
“He’s one of the players that is the future of our sport, so it’s a tough one,” Nadal said. “But I’m playing well.”
That Nadal would need to insist he is in good form is telling. The appendix surgery was just the latest health problem at the time for Nadal, who was unable to defend his US Open title last year because of a right-wrist injury.
The 29-year-old Spaniard is seeded just eighth and was upset in the second round at Wimbledon by 102nd-ranked qualifier Dustin Brown. This month Nadal failed to make it past the quarterfinals in two hard-court warmups.
But he keeps saying he is now playing better than those results show, and he’ll get a chance to prove that right away against an opponent of Coric’s caliber.
Image credits: AP