Sharapova withdraws from French Open with shoulder injury

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Two-time champion Maria Sharapova has announced her withdrawal from the French Open on Wednesday, as she continues to recover from a right shoulder injury.

Sharapova, 32, a five-time Grand Slam champion, has not played since pulling out of a tournament in her native Russia at the end of January.

"Sometimes the right decisions aren't always the easiest ones," she said in a post on her Instagram account.

"In better news, I have returned to the practice court, and slowly building the strength back in my shoulder," she added with a picture of her lifting the Roland Garros trophy in 2014.

Screenshot from Maria Sharapova's Instagram

The former world No.1 had missed out on a place in the Australian Open quarter-finals in January.

Sharapova, currently ranked 35th in the world, has been struggling back to top fitness since watching from the sidelines during her 15-month doping ban that ended in 2017.

This year's French Open will run from May 26 until June 9 at Roland Garros, with Rafael Nadal and Simona Halep as defending champions.

(With input from AFP and Reuters)