Australian Open champion Maria Sharapova has officially ended her 2008 tennis season.
The former world number one has announced that she will not play during the rest of the year because of a lingering shoulder injury.
Sharapova is currently in Arizona receiving aggressive rehabilitation on her shoulder, but despite signs of improvement, she will not return to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour to compete in Asia, Europe, or the season-ending Championships.
“I’ve been progressing really well but its taking a lot longer than I had selfishly planned,” wrote the Russian star on her official website. “Therefore my team and I decided to ’shut it down’ for the season.”
Because of her injury, Sharapova has been forbidden to practice during the past several weeks, but she hopes to start playing again soon.
“Next week I am going to finally hit my first tennis ball and a few weeks after that my first serves,” Sharapova said.
Sharapova won three Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles titles in 2008 including the Australian Open. Her win-loss record for the season is 32-4.
