The verdict by the CAS (Court of Arbitration of Sport) has shortened Maria Sharapova’s two-year ban to 15 months. Which means she can return to the courts after April 25, 2017. In theory, this should end the upheaval in the Russian tennis player's professional life.
Although not unanimously or universally, Sharapova is beginning to be welcomed back to women's tennis. Steve Simon, the WTA CEO said:
Maria is obviously a very successful athlete and a very prominent personality in our sport and of course she’s missed when she’s not on the court and we look forward to having her back.
There are even reports in Russian media that she could be given a wildcard at the French Open, where she is a two-time former champion.
The welcome from the tennis community and the self-confidence that Sharapova’s been displaying are one aspect of her trying to take her place in the sport once again. The other, much heavier side, hinges on a few other factors that cannot be ignored and which have the potential to restrict her attempts to make a real comeback.
Sharapova versus obstacles
Fifteen months – or rather, nine, since the CAS set January 26, the date when the blood test sample was collected, as the start of the ban – are obviously shorter than the initial two-year exclusion. But the time Sharapova will have lost cannot really be counted in months.
Even discounting Sharapova’s absence from the courts in 2016, there have been several noticeable changes in women’s tennis. There’s a new No. 1 in Angelique Kerber, who is trying to create her own legacy as the world’s best player. The once-indomitable Serena Williams has been patchy, laid low by injury-related inconsistencies. And between the respective trajectories of Kerber and William are other players with their individual story-lines.
There’s Garbine Muguruza, who found a place between the Kerber-Williams duality at the Majors by winning the French Open. Agnieszka Radwanska and Simona Halep have justified their place in the top five of the rankings, though both have had opposite results at the China Open in Beijing. Radwanska will play the final against Johanna Konta on Sunday, while Halep was upset in the third round by Shuai Zhang. There are other players like Madison Keys, Karolina Pliskova and Konta, who will break into the top-10 of the WTA rankings on Monday, who are all starting to gain prominence.
By the time the current season ends and the new one begins, there could be more such alterations. While none of these players will be new names to Sharapova when she re-joins the circuit in 2017, there will be other, less familiar players too.
And certain as she is about making a successful return, rustiness will certainly affect her competitive game, even against known rivals. She hadn’t had great results against some of them in any case. Regardless of how fit Sharapova has tried to keep herself, engaging in activities like yoga and distance running, the prolonged lack of match practice will have its say in determining the immediate course of her comeback.
Comparisons aside, Sharapova’s health and being able to stay injury-free for a long stretch of time are paramount too. Injuries have dogged her from the time she made her breakthrough in 2004, winning Wimbledon as a teenager. She has been troubled by recurrent shoulder injuries which struck in 2007, 2008, and then again in 2013.
The injury in 2008 not only required her to have surgery, but also forced her out of action for almost nine months, from July 2008 to March 2009. In 2013, she yet again had to truncate her season in August, staying out for almost five months before starting afresh in January 2014.
Sharapova's partner: indefagitability
However, the recurring theme in the Russian's life is her way of rebounding from each setback. Every time she had had been impaired by injury, Sharapova has come back stronger. The years 2010 and 2011 saw her struggle to maintain her consistency, but in 2012 she became the 10th women’s player to complete the career Grand Slam, winning the French Open. And then in 2014, she won her second title at Roland Garros, a feat that once seemed the most unlikely.
I'm feeling really good. I knew from the moment I withdrew from the [US] Open that I was going to give myself the right amount of time I needed. Whether that was a week, a month, a few months, I didn’t know. I’d been playing with an injured shoulder for a while, so it was important for me to take that time. Certainly when you’re doing it for so many years of your life there are moments where you feel like you need a pick-me-up. I didn’t play for a few months, and that was the reason for me to get back out there. I know when I’m healthy how I can play. I needed to get healthy. That was motivation on its own.
These had been Sharapova’s words during a press conference at the 2014 Brisbane Open,her first tournament after a break because of a shoulder injury in 2013. They reflected her self-belief that she would do well. And so she did, lending credence to her words.
In 2017, when she returns, it will once again be a testing time. This time, it's a test that’s totally new. But Maria Sharapova is one athlete who always comes through. The harder the adversities, the stronger is her response.
