Maria Sharapova will have a packed start to the season in 2019. Just after the Australian Open, from January 29 to February 4, the five-time Grand Slam winner will compete at the WTA St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy. It was the tournament director Alexander Medvedev to announce the new in a statement to TASS.
The negotiation is almost completed. ‘I would describe the current situation by saying that the concluded agreement is currently under the stage of formalities finalization’, Medvedev said. ‘Both sides have specialists, who are dealing with the finalization of such formalities.
Yes, we will see Maria [Sharapova] playing in St. Petersburg.’ At the US Open Sharapova lost to Carla Suarez Navarro in the fourth round. Commenting on how the match went, the 31-year-old said: ‘I thought she played really well.
There’s a lot of things she did well. I thought in today’s conditions, her ball was getting up on me a little bit more, much more than my previous three opponents that I played. I didn’t take care of the chances that I had. By ‘chances,’ I mean the balls that were a little bit shorter.
I hesitated to move forward. The balls where I did attack, I made unforced errors, especially on that inside-out forehand today.’ Asked if she was surprised by the Spaniard’s tennis level, Sharapova replied: ‘I’m not going to be surprised by someone that is playing in the fourth round.
I mean, this is someone that’s played many matches in her career, has played on different stages in her life. There’s nothing I should be surprised of. I thought she played a great match. She did many things well. She was consistent when she had to be.
She forced me to make mistakes. She moves extremely well. Those are all the things that I think we all know going into a matchup against someone like Carla.’