TENNIS
Injured Sharapova pulls out of U. S. Open
Maria Sharapova will sit out the U. S. Open because of a bad right shoulder, the first major championship she’ll miss since her Grand Slam debut in 2003.
The three-time Grand Slam title winner already had announced she’s pulling out of the Beijing Olympics because of the injury. Sharapova said in a posting on her Web site Friday she probably won’t need surgery and could be ready to play in two to three months.
“It hurts me so much to miss the Olympics and the U. S. Open, you have no idea,” she said. “Just to type those words hurt!!”
Earlier Friday, a U. S. Open official told the Associated Press that Sharapova’s agent informed the tournament she wouldn’t be able to play in the year’s last Grand Slam event.
The No. 3-ranked Sharapova has played in each of the past 23 major championships, winning at Wimbledon in 2004, the U. S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in January.
A doctor who looked at tests on her shoulder from April and this week told Sharapova she has been playing with a torn rotator cuff tendon since the spring.
“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,” she said. “The good news is that it didn’t get much worse since April.”
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Around the nets
• After three years of chasing Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal kept alive his hopes to take over No. 1 with 7-6 (3), 6-1 victory — his 32nd straight win — over Nicolas Lapentti at the Cincinnati Masters in Mason, Ohio.
• Jelena Jankovic lost another opportunity to claim the top ranking when she was upset by 19-year-old Dominika Cibulkova, 7-5, 6-2, at the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
