The world No 2 has disappointed Russian tennis fans once again by pulling out of the Fed Cup. But even without Sharapova Russia will be too strong for the rest.
After years of being criticised for her allegiancies, tennis beauty and world No 2 Maria Sharapova was set to finally take to the court for the first time representing her native Russia in this weekend’s Fed Cup tie. However Sharapova, whom many have said is more American than Russian, was forced to pull out after suffering an injury last month, once again delaying her long-awaited representation of her country.

To many countries, the loss of a two-time Grand Slam champion and one of the top three players of the last few years would be a major blow and would pretty much end the team’s chances of lifting the cup at the end of the year but we are not talking about any nation, this is a country which currently boasts 10 players in the top 50.

This weekend sees the team of Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova, Anna Chakvetadze and Elena Vesnina take on Spain on an indoor red clay court in Moscow.