Maria Sharapova skips Moscow, commits to play in...
Maria Sharapova plans to play two more tournaments until the season ends. The Russian will compete in next week's Linz Open and then she is set to take a wild card to compete in Luxembourg, where she only played once, in 2003, losing to the top seed Kim Clijsters in the semifinals.
Sharapova is training with the Italian coach Riccardo Piatti in the north of Italy on hard courts and she did not take a wild card to play in Wuhan or Beijing either.
At the US Open, following her 55-minute loss to Serena Williams, the five-time Grand Slam winner spoke about her schedule. The Russian has been hit with a shoulder injury during the first half of the season. "I want to try and play as much as possible", recognized the former world No. 1. "After the long match against Kontaveit, I struggled with my shoulder for a week or so. I was trying to get that back on track. I think I hit like over 200 serves in that match. That was a lot compared to what I did in practice beforehand. I have to be mindful of the schedule. I have to be smart. Yeah, but I really want to play as much as I can till the end of the year."
Sharapova usually played the WTA Finals at the end of the season, but because of the low amount of points she gained this year so far, she is unlikely to even reach the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai.
It's unknown where Maria will start the 2020 season. Over the last two years, she always competed in Shenzhen, China.
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