 Maria Sharapova has been out injured since August 2008 |
Former world number one Maria Sharapova played her first competitive match for seven months in the doubles event at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. The 21-year-old teamed up with fellow Russian Elena Vesnina but they were beaten 6-2 4-6 10-7 by Ekaterina Makarova and Tatiana Poutchek. Sharapova has been sidelined since last August with a shoulder injury that has hampered her for the past two years. "It feels very good to be back, I just wanted to test it out," she said. "I started training a couple of months ago. I just wanted to... test it out in a match situation and get a little different scenery than the practice court and play in front of the crowd, so that was exciting," added the three-time Grand Slam winner.  | 606: DEBATE |
"The main goal for here was just to get out there and be in that atmosphere again. "The hump I've got to get through right now is to put together two weeks of coming out to the court and playing two or three sets every day, and doing that for seven or eight days in a row. "Right now I'm able to do maybe three days or four days and then I have to take it easy on the fifth." Sharapova said she was unsure where or when she would play next. "I'm done with setting a timetable for myself. Those days are over," she said.
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