Maria Sharapova, the five-times grand-slam winner, has sparked rumours about her retirement by calling a press conference for this evening.
The 28-year-old Russian, who will speak in Los Angeles at 8pm UK time, has been struggling with an arm injury this year and has played in only one tournament, losing to Serena Williams in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
The unspecified nature of the announcement has sparked speculation about Sharapova’s future in the sport, and whether she may choose to retire or take a break to recover full fitness. Sharapova’s manager, Max Eisenbud, said last month that this was unlikely to be Sharapova’s final season. “I think not. But to play again she needs to be healthy,” he said.
Sharapova won her first grand slam as a 17-year-old at Wimbledon in 2004 and has since landed the 2006 US Open title, the 2008 Australian Open and the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
The highest-paid female athlete in world sport for the past 11 years, according to Forbes, Sharapova has earned a large part of her income through endorsements from sponsors and has her own sweet business, Sugarpova.
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Sharapova has pulled out of the upcoming BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California because of injury.
“I have been focused on healing my left forearm injury and tried to get my body to be 100 per cent ready to play this event,” Sharapova said announcing that decision on Thursday. “I will be anxious to return next year.”