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At almost the very last moment, Maria Sharapova pulls the plug on her US Open
NEW YORK – When Maria Sharapova did her pre-tournament press conference Saturday afternoon, she was cagey on her health, and fairly vague about her prospects at this year's US Open.
"Just had a bit of a muscle strain," she said of the leg injury that led to her withdrawing both from the Rogers Cup in Toronto and from the Cincinnati tournament two weeks ago.
"I’m feeling better. I’m feeling better. It’s just a time thing, when you’re dealing with these nagging things, it’s it’s almost just a day-to-day process," she said. "I’ve done everything I could to be ready. There’s nothing more I could have done, so I hope (I'll be ready)."
She wasn't. After a late-afternoon practice session on Louis Armstrong Stadium Sunday, the tournament announced that Sharapova had withdrawn.
Sharapova was due to play countrywoman Daria Gavrilova, who now represents Australia. The 21-year-old pulled off the big upset in straight sets against Sharapova in the second round of the Miami event last March, although Sharapova got her revenge a month later on the red clay in Rome.
The 28-year-old has been in New York for awhile, fulfilling a host of obligations with her corporate sponsors, as have many of the top players. It's just the tennis part that's not working out at the moment; here's what she wrote on her Facebook page after that practice.
Sharapova hasn't played since losing to Serena Williams in the semi-finals of Wimbledon, six weeks ago.
Here's how she looked during a practice session Saturday on the Grandstand court, and in her press conference a little bit later on.
The rule for withdrawals by seeded players is that for any changes to be made in the draw, the withdrawal must occur before the order of play for the first day is released.
The US Open begins Monday, but the order of play came out on Saturday; once that happened – not that Sharapova was, or should be, concerned about what happens in the draw once she's out – the timing of the withdrawal didn't matter in a macro sense. In real terms, though, it affects a lot of players.
Had Sharapova withdrawn earlier, the No. 5 seed, Petra Kvitova, would have been shifted into Sharapova's spot in the draw and the No. 17 seed (EIina Svitolina of Ukraine) moved into Kvitova's spot. The next player to be seeded (No. 33-ranked Karin Knapp) would have taken Svitolina's spot.
That's actually a break for Kvitova, who won the final tuneup event in New Haven Saturday and seems in good form coming into New York. She remains in the bottom half of the draw – i.e., not Serena Williams' half. Had they reshuffled the seeds, she would have ended up in Williams' half, as the American attempts to complete the calendar Grand Slam.
As it is, 18-year-old Daria Kasatkina of Russia, who was only the No. 27 seed in qualifying and came into the tournament ranked just No. 133, is the elected lucky loser.
Unlike at regular WTA events (where generally the top-ranked player losing in the final round of qualifying gets the spot), there is a random draw among the four best-ranked players defeated in the final round of qualifying to determine a lucky loser at a Grand Slam, if one is needed. So veteran Yaroslava Shvedova, seeded No. 2 in the qualifying (she lost a heartbreaker, 5-7, 7-6 (8), 7-6 (4) to Tereza Mrdeza of the Czech Republic in the final round Friday) didn't get the luck of the draw. Neither did Russia's Alla Kudryavtseva, seeded No. 15.
It's a great break for Kasatkina; making the main draw means guaranteed $39,500 US even if Kasatkina loses in the first round. That's big money for a player who has earned just over $50,000 US in her entire career.
