Maria Sharapova will miss this year's US Open with a lingering right leg injury. "Unfortunately I will not be able to compete in this year's US Open," Sharapova said on her Facebook page on the eve of the event. "I have done everything possible to be ready but it was just not enough time. To all my amazing fans, I will be back in the Asian swing in a few weeks and look forward to finishing the year healthy and strong".Maria Sharapova's withdrawal from the US Open appears to be another low point for the WTA's most marketable, yet snakebitten, player. The U.S. Tennis Association announced the withdrawal via a press release at about the same time that Sharapova, who withdrew from the US Open for the second time in three years Sunday, posted the news on her Facebook page. Fellow Russian Daria Kasatkina will replace Sharapova in the draw, the USTA announced.
Ranked third in the world and seeded second at the US Open, Sharapova has not played in a tournament since losing to Serena Williams in the Wimbledon semifinal. Sharapova said earlier this month that she sustained the injury during training after Wimbledon, an injury that forced her to withdraw from lead-up tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati.
"It's a tough decision to make, but I think a wise one, in order to give myself the right amount of time to be as healthy as I can be for the Open," Sharapova told reporters in Cincinnati after skipping the event there. "I believe [it's] very realistic, but I don't know if it would be realistic if I did compete and start tomorrow."
Though she has not played since July, Maria Sharapova was still one of the favorites to win the US Open prior to withdrawing. Sharapova also missed Russia's Fed Cup semifinal against Germany back in April with a leg injury, but the tennis star has not said whether the two injuries are related.
Sharapova's US Open draw saw her potentially meeting Williams in the semifinals as Williams attempts the first calendar-year Grand Slam in nearly 30 years. She has five majors titles to her credit, including the 2006 US Open championship, but she has not won one since the 2014 French Open. In 2013, Sharapova skipped the U.S. Open because of a right shoulder injury. She also missed the Grand Slam tournament in 2008, when she was off the tour for about 10 months because of surgery on her right shoulder.
"From a player's perspective you always have to believe in the ability to go through the little things that you might have. Physically, that's part of sports, unfortunately," Sharapova said in an interview with the Associated Press earlier this month. "There's no athlete who's ever 100 percent healthy." - Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
