The suspense over Maria Sharapova thigh injury continues, she was forced to retire from Shenzhen Open quarter-final match against against Aryna Sabalenka.
The Russian beauty was struggling to move sharply on court, there was a dip in energy reserves resulting in opening set loss 1-6. Seeing Sharapova condition, her coach Thomas Hogstedt urged the former world number 1 to take medical time out. Sharapova retired from the court spilling controversy over her fitness for Australian open starting from January 14.
During giving media bytes, he said ““If you feel more like you did on the first point, then you just stop. Or you take a medical now,”
“But the shots are there … you have to get it up to another gear.” The fans hope that it is not a serious injury. The Australian Open is Sharapova’s favorite fortress; she had previously won the Australian Open in 2008.
She hasn’t been in the best of forms since her 15 month long doping suspension. She started off well winning Tianjin Open in 2017, but early exit in the US Open and Wimbledon showed that she is way far from her best version. If Sharapova plays the Australian Open, it will be hard to sustain in the presence of Williams sister and Caroline Wozniacki.
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