Maria Sharapova pulls out of Roland Garros due to shoulder injury

Maria Sharapova pulls out of this year’s French Open with a shoulder injury, the two-time former Roland Garros winner made the announcement on Wednesday.

Sharapova, 32, a five-time Grand Slam champion, has not played since pulling out of a tournament in her native country Russia at the end of January.

In an Instagram post on her official account, she wrote: “Sometimes the right decisions aren’t always the easiest ones”.

Over the picture of her lifting the Roland Garros trophy in 2014, she further added on her Insta story, “In better news, I have returned to the practice court, and slowly building the strength back in my shoulder”.

It was earlier this year in February when the world number 35 said told that she had undergone a small procedure to fix a long-standing shoulder problem.

The former world number one also missed out on a place in the Australian Open quarter-finals in January.

The Russian tennis star has been struggling with the fitness since she watched from the sidelines during her 15-month doping ban which ended in 2017.

This year’s French Open, the Roland Garros is scheduled to run from May 26th till June 9th.

Rafael Nadal and Simona Halep will be defending their championship titles this year.