Maria Sharapova will probably miss next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. She would definitely have a hard time trying to qualify for the event, and on top of that, she’s committed to play an event in California in the same week of the Tokyo Games.
Sharapova will play World Team Tennis
32-year old Sharapova will participate in the World Team Tennis tournament in California in July, and the Tokyo Games take place around the same time. The Russian is an Olympic silver medalist from 2012. She couldn’t participate in the Rio Games, because she had a 15-month ban after being caught with meldonium.
She is also quite likely to rule her out of the Tokyo Games. It was just this Monday that WADA sanctioned Russia heavily. On top of that, Sharapova hasn’t met the minimum participation requirements in Fed Cup this season, although expectations on that rule can be made.
Sharapova is currently ranked number 131 after she had to skip a big portion of the season due to shoulder surgery. It would definitely be an emotional decision for her to make regarding Olympic participation. After all, in 2017 she said:
“It was the one thing that my parents allowed me to watch on TV late into the evening was the Olympics.”
“I grew up watching figure skating and hockey and a little bit of tennis… just capturing the Opening Ceremonies and seeing all the countries and the little hats that they wore, and I, as a little girl, I just imagined that maybe it would be me. But I never, ever thought that I would be carrying the flag.”
“I received that [flag] honor in a text message, which is a very Russian way of communicating. I originally thought it was a joke, a big fat joke. Then I showed it to my mother, and she [said], no, they probably wouldn’t joke like that.”
