Former world number one the Russian Maria Sharapova who has been a blast success in the professional Women's circuit also known as the WTA, has announced this week that she will be withdrawing from this year's Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

The Siberian born whose career began at the early age of six while attending a tennis clinic in Moscow began her professional display after many years of practice and hard work in 2003 when she participated in both the Australian and the French Open. Later on that same year, Maria entered Wimbledon as a wild card; without a doubt this served as her catapult since she became known due to her performance during the British Grand Slam.

Just one year later Sharapova stunned the women's tennis world by entering once again Wimbledon as the 17-year-old thirteenth seeded who made it all the way to the finals to face the defending champion, the American Serena Williams, and winning in two sets by 6-1 and 6-4. This Grand Slam opened the door for the Russian to be part of the best top ten female players in the world as she continued her gathering of triumphs. 

But there was more to come for Sharapova; two years later she became the women's world number two as she accomplished to win the US Open in 2006 after defeating the Belgian and former world number one Justine Henin by 6-4, 6-4. Nevertheless, Sharapova also faced several injuries, including her most durable one in the shoulder due to which she has struggled throughout some years now.

More recently, at the beginning of 2008, Sharapova managed to pull her way through by winning at the long-desired hard courts in Melbourne, Australia. Even though she lost her crown at the 2007 US Open Grand Slam in New York, she was able to focus again and showed her character while overcoming the 20-year-old Serbian Ana Ivanovic. Additionally, she also became the new crowned number one since the world of tennis was shocked by the early retirement of Justine Henin, previous to her participation in Roland Garros.

Despite her young age, Sharapova has been surrounded by all kinds of joys and disappointments which do not seem to stop. Just last Wednesday she announced that it would be very difficult for her to attend the Olympic Games in Beijing since her shoulder had developed a new injury and it could be a serious one this time. After her early exit from the Montreal Cup this week; we learnt about Sharapova's mixed feelings to be part of the Russian team to be present at the Olympics and her need to make sure her shoulder is well recovered for her to continue her way in the WTA.

The Olympic Russian team will now participate without Sharapova and they will first meet in New York for a complete physical check up before heading to Beijing for the beginning of the tennis tournaments, scheduled to start on August 8th.

Cindy Ferguson is a high-ranking writer on WTA Tennis in the sports betting industry. You can also find more of her work at Instant Action Sports UK.
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