The wildly popular tennis star is returning to tennis next week at the Warsaw Open which should create a fantastic buzz around the WTA tour.

Sharapova who has not played since August of 2008 has been recovering from a shoulder injury which sidelined her in the 2nd round at Montreal.

Expectations from media and also fans will almost certainly be unrealistically high for Sharapova, however I wouldn’t be surprised if she does get back into form quite quickly.

Quick enough for the French? No.
Quick enough for Wimbledon? Maybe.
How about the U.S. Open? Almost certainly.

For any athlete taking a significant amount of time off does a lot of funny things to your mental conditioning, physical conditioning, and match savvy.

Sure, she’s been hitting balls, and sparring with others, but it’s no where near the same as stepping into a packed house and fighting a Top 50 player, many who are desperately trying to earn points and paychecks.

To the media and fans, I say, give her some time…It’ll come back.
To the WTA, I say, quit your salivating already!
To Sharapova? Welcome back!

MarkOskar

Original post by Mark Oskar