Maria Sharapova warms up for Paris

For the first time since last August, Maria Sharapova will today go toe-to-pedicured-toe on a singles court on the women's tour, with the Russian scheduled to end her nine-month absence by playing Italy's Tathiana Garbin in the first round of a tournament in Warsaw.

Usually Sharapova does not like to compete the week before a grand slam but she did not want to go 'cold' into the French Open on Sunday.

Sharapova, a former world No 1 and a past champion at Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open, has been recovering from a shoulder operation. She played a doubles match in California in March, but that only told her that she was not yet ready to play singles.

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