Sport Championship: maria sharapova 2009: Fall from top 10 and comeback from injury

Sunday, 10 July 2011

maria sharapova 2009: Fall from top 10 and comeback from injury

2009: Fall from top 10 and comeback from injury
Sharapova made the quarter-finals of the French Open, her best Grand Slam performance of 2009.
Sharapova did not attempt to defend her Australian Open title as she continued to recover from surgery. She returned to the sport in March, in the doubles tournament at the BNP Paribas Open, but she and partner Elena Vesnina lost in the first round. After this, Sharapova withdrew from further singles tournaments, resulting in her standing in the world rankings being severely affected. She dropped out of the top 100 for the first time in six years in May, the nadir being World No. 126.
Playing her first singles tournament in nearly ten months, Sharapova made the quarterfinals of the clay-court Warsaw Open in May, being beaten by Alona Bondarenko. The following week, in the first Grand Slam appearance since her surgery, she reached the quarterfinals of the French Open before her run was ended by Dominika Cibulková.
During the summer grass court season playing in Birmingham, losing in the semifinals. Sharapova then played at the 2009 Wimbledon Championships as the 24th seed. She was upset in the second round by Gisela Dulko in 3 sets. Sharapova enjoyed considerable success in the summer months, reaching the quarterfinals at the Bank of the West Classic, the semifinals at the LA Women's Tennis Championships, and finishing runner-up at the Rogers Cup to Elena Dementieva. Nevertheless, she was dealt her second straight early exit at the final Grand Slam of the year, losing to Melanie Oudin at the US Open, while committing 60 unforced errors and a personal record of 21 double faults.

The final stretch of the season brought Sharapova her first title of the year in Tokyo, after opponent Jelena Janković retired after being down 2–5 to Sharapova in the final. By virtue of that result, she was the recipient of a bye at the China Open, but failed to use it to her advantage, losing to Peng Shuai in the third round. She ultimately finished the season at No. 14, having improved from No. 126 when she started her return.

maria sharapova