Sharapova pulls out of US Open with persistent shoulder injury

Maria Sharapova will miss the last grand slam championship of the year, the US Open at the end of August, because of the shoulder injury that had already forced her to withdraw from the Olympics.

The player’s agent yesterday informed the US Open that she would not be able to play, according to a tournament official. Sharapova, who won the US Open in 2006, pulled out of the WTA tournament in Montreal on Wednesday and announced the following day that she would not play in the Olympics .

The world No1, Ana Ivanovic, is also a doubt for Beijing after admitting that she was troubled by an inflamed right thumb in her 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 defeat by the 17-year-old Austrian Tamira Paszek in the third round in Montreal. “I really hope not,” Ivanovic said when asked if her Olympic plans were in jeopardy. “[But] I was in pain through the whole match. I spoke to many doctors and they all said it just takes time for the inflammation to get out. Now obviously I’m a little bit scared because the MRI shows nothing but I still have pain. I was planning to go straight to Beijing but now I might go back to Europe to see the doctor.”

Jelena Jankovic, who reached the last eight with a 6-3, 6-2 demolition of Canada’s Stéphanie Dubois, now sits only 88 points behind Ivanovic in the WTA rankings and can nudge her out of top spot by making it to tomorrow’s final.

The men’s No1, Roger Federer, will carry the Swiss flag at Friday’s opening ceremony in Beijing. Federer, who turns 27 that day, also led out his country in Athens four years ago. “It’s wonderful that I can carry the flag for the Swiss delegation on my birthday,” he said. “It’s well known that I still have a score to settle with the Olympics and being handed this honour for a second time will give me extra motivation.”

Federer went into the Athens Games as gold medal favourite but lost to the Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych early on.