Maria Sharapova
Sharapova has played in three events since returning to the sport in April Reuters

KEY POINTS

  • Sharapova will miss the entire grass-court calendar.
  • The former world number one will play The Bank of the West Classic in Stanford on 30 July.

Maria Sharapova has revealed that she will not be able to take part in the Wimbledon qualifying and will miss the entire grass-court calendar due to an injury.

The Russian returned to tennis action in April after serving a 15-month doping ban for testing positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open.

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While she has not featured since retiring from her Italian Open round of 32 match against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in May due to a thigh injury, number 178 ranked Sharapova was expected to take part in Wimbledon qualifying after opting not to pursue a wild card.

However, the five-time Grand Slam champion confirmed on her personal Facebook page that she will not feature in Roehampton or at the Aegon Classic in Birmingham.

"After an additional scan, the muscle tear that I sustained in Rome will unfortunately not allow me to compete in the grass court tournaments I was scheduled to play," she wrote on her Facebook page. "I want to thank the LTA for their amazing support on my return and providing me with a Birmingham wild card, a tournament which I hope many of you will be able to attend."

"I look forward to meeting you there next year. I will continue to work on my recovery and my next scheduled tournament is in Stanford."

As a result of missing the entire grass-court season, Sharapova will not be ranked high enough to gain direct entry into the US Open in the fall and like Wimbledon, will have to go through qualifying.

She is expected to return for The Bank of the West Classic in Stanford that commences on 30 July.

Wimbledon