Sharapova has withdrawn from the big clay events in Rome and Madrid.

She is likely to miss the French Open.

Sharapova hasn't played a singles match since August.

I don't think she'll ever fully recover from the shoulder injury. Most top or former top players never return to their peak form after shoulder problems.

If she does return to the tour, she may make it back into the top ten or even become the top player in the world. But until the Williams sisters retire, she probably will not win another Australian Open, Wimbledon, or the US Open.

Her camp claims she is training well and making progress toward returning for the grass season, most likely. The hot rumour on the tour is she is finished. Petrova confirmed everyone is talking about it but said she doesnt believe it.

I hope Maria does come back strong, she is a huge young star and a tremendous player/competitor. After seeing the disastrous results of Capriati's two, or is it three? shoulder surgeries, I am fearful we might not see her back at her former glory.

Sharapova to play singles!

Sharapova wins her first match!

Sharapova picked a good tournament to make her comeback. There is essentially no one in the draw that looks very threatening. Perhaps Hantuchova or Jie Zheng could cause problems, but clay doesn't seem to be their best surfaces. Sharapova against Jelena Dokic would be a match to see! Singles Draw

Sharapova's outfit.

I don't know if I like it. It seems as if for over a year that Sharapova's outfits have made her look "frumpy".
They just don't look like they fit very well.

Glad she's back. And I hope she gets back to her best. Women's Tennis needs her.

I agree and her first round match in Poland was encouraging.

A delicious thought went through my mind yesterday watching the exhibition match, on television, from Wimbledon...........a comeback for Graf? She certainly is in wondeful shape and was hitting the ball well. I know, I know the dreaded Big Babes would overpower her now but it would certainly help save the womens game from being as deadly dull in 2009 as it was in 2008.

Now wait a minute Clijsters is making a bit of a comeback shortly, could we not get Henin off the box in Belgium,Hingis off the powder in Switzerland and crazy Mary Pierce off whatever. And Jennifer Capriati where the hell are you?

Oh well just a fantasy, guess I should be looking forward not backwards.

So glad Maria is back and hope the shoulder will hold up. Personally I think she came back pretty quickly. Would love to see a Maria/Dinara showdown at the French. Not sure if she will be back playing at that level yet, but it would be fun to watch..

It's good to see Sharapova back and racking up wins on her most challenging surface. Unfortunately, she is now up against pretty much the toughest woman left in the draw (and the 2007 finalist here) in the elder Bondarenko, who is a good clay competitor and has pushed Sharapova all the way in some three-set matches last year, both on green clay and hard court; she would be the slight favourite on red clay even if Maria had some more match practice, I would think.

But it's a good test to see if she can hit the ground running, and if she does come through the title should be hers (her first on red clay), with the winner of Hantuchova/Zakopalova posing the only remaining outside threat. And the slumping Daniela couldn't defeat Sharapova even when they were both in the Top 10, and isn't much on clay herself. Zakopalova is intermittently dangerous and, as we know, defeated Serena in Marbella the other week.

I think it speaks volumes that Sharapova wants to return just in time for the French, when she could have easily waited for one of her better surfaces in the grass season. You know a career Slam is in the back of her mind, especially here where her nemeses the Williams sisters are out of their element and the rest of the non-Safina Russians are still cowed by her. Meanwhile the Serbs, who have defeated her before (Ivanovic famously taking her out 1 and 2 in their FO semifinal the other year), are pretty much out of the picture with the clay season, nearly at its end, having shown no signs of that changing.

Bum shoulder or not, no way Alona isn't intimidated about stepping into the ring vs. Maria the Giant. None of the Russians like playing her. I am more partial to cheery Katerina B with her lovely backhand, Alona tends to be a pretty grumpy customer, esp when things aren't going her way. Should be a good one!

I feel Aravene getting her game back on track in Strasbourg. Could she best her former 4th round appearance at the French Open this year? She's got the shots if she can keep her head together..

OK, not so good. Pretty much a cake walk for Alona.

It looks as if Sharapova's serve is still way below par. I noticed in her match against Garbin that she was winning about the same percentage of the points on her own serve as Garbin's and that worried me. Today she won just 48% on her first serve and 25% on her second--that's simply disastrous.

Bondarenko was the first decent player Maria came up against and she really got steamrolled. The movement was horrible. Her serve had practically nothing on it. I think she only had 1 ace in 3 matches. Maria's game is set up by her serve and if she doesn't have that, she is in BIG TROUBLE!!! Bondarenko isn't that great and that seemed like cruise control. Hopefully she gets her stuff together because the WTA needs someone of Maria's calibur and not these pretenders who can't seem to step it up in the big match.

I'm going to be pulling for Maria, and if she can't make a comeback work, my heart will go out to her just because the thing that I most like about her is she is a born competitor. A million players have gone from academies to the pro ranks, but very few have anything close to her fighter's heart.

I've also generally liked how she handles victory and defeat, and her self-effacing humor. The dad's a troll, her game is mechanical, there are other players I enjoy and root for more, but whatever. As everyone is saying, the WTA really needs her.

While Maria's injury problems have some roots in her coaching/technique, they also say something for sure about the scheduling of the pro turs in general and the WTA in particular.

The WTA's strictness about playing has led to, let's see, Henin's early retirement, to name one little thing.

Then there's Maria and Serena. There's some irony that Maria is attempting a comeback from injury right at the same time that Serena is injured and talking loudly about the WTA forcing her to play with no interest in her well-being. Sharapova made similar remarks before this long absence.

Though Serena's been pretty curt and cold about Sharapova's probs, this injury/schedule issue is something they could unite about. Imagine the impact.

It seems like WTA doesn't mind running their big names into the ground and ruining them. They need a wake-up call that there is no one taking their place.

Sorry still not quite at the FO yet. Did anyone get to watch Dulgeruh defeat Alona Bondarenko? Wow, what a game. It was Henin..esque watching her play on game, esp in 3rd set. Where has she been hiding?

Congrats Aravene on winning Strasbourg, she is much better than her ranking has ever showed. Maybe she has improved her serving and mental lapses. Great news for going into FO.

I know! Sharapova's return was the talk of the tournament. Then the Radwanska Family Circus. But the real story turned out to be Dulgheru.

I am an instant fan of this girl. You're right, there's something Henin-like about the way she carries herself on court. There's also something kind of Arantxa-esque about her demeanor. Tomboy who likes a fight.

Her actual game isn't much like either of them, but she has great potential from what I can tell.

She's one of only a handful of WTA players to win a WTA tournament while ranked outside the top 200. And maybe the only one two win a Tier Two.

Weirder still, this is her first WTA tournament, so she is undefeated. I guess she's from the same generation as Azarenka, Wozniacki, Aga Radwanska, and Szavay.

Anyway, Dulgheru is a competitor. Like much of the WTA, her backhand (two-handed) is stronger than her forehand, but damn she can hit that backhand hard. Her serve is weak, but it works. It'll need to improve.

What's especially good about her aside from her attitude is her point construction and willingness to move forward and volley. Plus her game looks solid.