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Sharapova: injury woe
It hurts me so much to miss the Olympics and the US Open. I think this will be the first grand slam I have ever missed.
Maria Sharapova
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Maria Sharapova has been forced to withdraw from the Beijing Olympics and the US Open after scans on her injured shoulder revealed a torn rotator cuff.
The Russian pulled out of the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Wednesday night after winning her match against Marta Domachowska despite suffering problems with the right shoulder.
Sharapova admitted the problem had been getting worse for some time and was advised to go for scans to discover the extent of the injury.
"The doctor does not believe that I need surgery and is sending me to work with a specialist in Arizona next week to do extensive rehab and strength work and he believes that I should be ready to play in two to three months," Sharapova said in a statement on Friday.
Hurt
"It hurts me so much to miss the Olympics and the US Open. I think this will be the first grand slam I have ever missed.
"(Dr David) Altchek looked at all my tests from April and today and informed me that I have been playing with a moderate tear in my rotator cuff tendon since April.
"He actually couldn't believe that I've been playing this long with this injury.
"You can imagine that I was not very thrilled to hear that my medical team did not see this tear in my shoulder back in April.
"The good news is that it didn't get much worse since April, but we could have started the healing time back then instead of now.
"Now I need to move forward and stay positive. I am going to work hard to get healthy. Once I'm healthy, I'm sure I'll look at this as a blessing in disguise."
