Despite her shock Wimbledon exit, Maria Sharapova was extremely vibrant and optimistic when talking up her chances of competing in what should have been her first-ever Olympics. Not to mention her New York affair with the US Open, in which she lifted the trophy back in 2006.

However, she followed up her Olympic withdrawal by pulling out of the US Open a couple of days ago, due to a right-shoulder injury which reared its ugly head earlier this year. The dissatisfied three-time Grand Slam champion stated on her website: "It hurts me so much to miss the Olympics and the US Open, you have no idea, just to type those words hurts."

With arguably the best mental approach in tennis, Maria didn’t waste time in dragging up the positives. “Once I'm healthy, I'm sure I'll look at this as a blessing in disguise,” she said. Sharapova is now looking to use her free time to attend to her sponsors all around the world who structure the frantic publicity of the former world No.1.

How could we forget Maria’s resilience earlier this year when she tallied up titles in Melbourne, Doha and Amelia Island? She has already soaked up a lot of sweet victories this year but, as we learnt last year, there is also a down side. It wasn’t too long ago that she crashed out of the 2007 US Open when defending her title.

No one expected the Russian to make any noise during the closing stages of that year, but she took what little expectation she had in her stride and made the final in Madrid, giving Justine Henin a real run for her money. The ranking points she harvested in Melbourne will go far ifor qualifying in Doha this year, since winning there will surely be a top priority for Maria.

As for now, its bye-bye for our favourite Russian. But don’t move your ear-plugs so quickly - before you know it, she will be back screaming her head off in fabulous fashion.