05 February,2011 09:00 AM IST | | AFP
Maria Sharapova hopes her first Fed Cup outing in three years will help erase the misery of her latest Grand Slam blow-out. The three-time major winner, and former world number one, who has struggled to rediscover her best form since a 2008 shoulder injury,
Russia's Maria Sharapova at the Fed Cup draw ceremony in Moscow
yesterday. Pic/AFP
suffered a tame fourth round defeat at the Australian Open. Her straight sets defeat to Germany's Andrea Petkovic in the heat of Melbourne has now given way to the chilly streets of Moscow, where Russia open their 2011 Fed Cup World Group campaign against France on Saturday.
"Cold, cold, cold," wrote Sharapova on her Facebook page. "Just spent the last week in Munich training and now I am off to Moscow for Fed Cup. I am looking forward to getting on the court and competing, did not like that feeling I had walking off the court last time I played."
Sharapova, who will share singles duties with Svetlana Kuznetsova, is making her first Fed Cup appearance since 2008.
France have been hit by the absence of their top two, Marion Bartoli and Aravane Rezai, leaving Alize Cornet as the team's leading player. Four-time champions Russia have won the most recent two ties between the nations, but France triumphed on their last visit to Moscow's Olympic Stadium in 2003.
In other Fed Cup World Group fixtures over the weekend, Australia face Italy in Hobart, Slovakia and Czech Republic clash in Bratislava, while Belgium host USA in Antwerp.
