Maria Sharapova will sit out all grass season due to injury

Maria Sharapova announced that she will be sitting out the rest of the grass season.

Maria Sharapova’s comeback has taken another hit with the Russian pulling out of the grass tournaments she was committed to play in as of a few weeks ago. It’s another blow to her comeback from a 15-month doping ban, for testing positive for the banned substance meldonium last year.

Sharapova’s strongest surface had been clay and she was poised to return to the sport with wild cards lined up at Stuttgart, Madrid, and Rome. She fared well at her first tournament in Germany, but wilted under the pressure at the next two wild card events where she faced tougher opponents, who were motivated to oust a player they labeled a “cheater,” Genie Bouchard just one example. Her hopes were further dashed when the French Open officials denied her wild card request to not only the main draw, but even the qualifying. That announcement came on the same day that the 30 year-old withdrew from her second round match at the Rome Open due to a thigh injury she sustained.

With the disappointing results and controversy generated from the gifted wild cards, the five-time grand slam champion was pinning her hopes on the grass season. Her clay season results bumped her ranking up to her current status of 178, allowing her to qualify for the Wimbledon qualifying tournament. The grass grand slam is the usual sole grass event she plays, but under pressure to “play nice” she agreed to a two-year contract to appear at the smaller Birmingham warm-up event, without an appearance fee. In a gesture of goodwill, she also announced that she wouldn’t seek a wild card to the Wimbledon main draw in order to avoid further controversy from peers and tournament officials.

Sharapova’s withdrawal from both tournaments is a blow. The Russian would have surely boosted sales to the smaller Birmingham event, and the Wimbledon qualifying tourney at Roehampton was going to sell tickets for the first time as well, although both events will now be spared the headache of hiring extra security and management to deal with the famous athlete’s participation. Playing with an injury would have made getting through three weeks of tough matches at Wimbledon — including the three in the qualifying round — difficult to make it to the final.

Poor Maria. She will be recuperating from the thigh injury and spending time retraining for the end of the season hard court events. She is also back to hoping for a wild card to the US Open, where she won the title in 2006. Sitting out the grass period will certainly guarantee she won’t gain enough ranking points to qualify for the US grand slam main draw. She announced her return from injury will begin at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford on July 30.

It’s likely that the wild card debate will continue for the former world No. 1.