Maria Sharapova may be short of match play, but she's not lacking confidence ahead of her return to tournament tennis at the Wuhan Open.
The third-ranked Russian has not played a match since falling to world No. 1 Serena Williams in the Wimbledon semifinals in July.
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A nagging leg injury sidelined Sharapova for the entire North American summer hard-court season, but the five-time Grand Slam champion says a solid training block should ease her transition back to competition.
“Obviously I have missed playing in many tournaments in the last few months and as I was getting healthy and preparing and training, this tournament worked out really well in my schedule and there is no reason why I wouldn’t play," Sharapova told the media in Wuhan. “I didn’t have the best result at this tournament last year and that is definitely something I would like to change this week.”
With a first-round bye, Sharapova will face either Czech veteran Barbora Strycova or Timea Babos in her Wuhan opener next week.
“You can never underestimate an opponent, whether seeded or not," said Sharapova, who lost to Timea Bacsinszky, 7-6 (3), 7-5, in the Wuhan round of 16 last year. "There is not an easy match and I believe many of the top 20 are here so you know there is going to be top quality tennis. You can’t look at any match and say that will be an easy match.”
Photo credit: Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open