Maria Sharapova expected in Montreal

Maria Sharapova says her ankle injury appears to have healed and she looks forward to a strong hardcourt season leading up to the U.S. Open in September. On her itinerary is a stop at the Rogers Cup event Aug. 14-20 in Montreal, after tournaments in San Diego and Los Angeles.

"I'm excited - I'm finally injury free," the 19-year-old Russian said on a conference call Thursday. "I had a good tournament at Wimbledon and then had a week off, and now I'm training for the U.S. Open series. "Last year, I went into the U.S. Open with almost no matches. This year, I'm looking forward to building my game and my confidence going into the U.S. Open."
"I'm a work in progress," she said. "Just because I won a grand slam when I was 17 doesn't mean I'm going to get a win at every slam. I'm happy. I'm 19, and to be consistently in the top five in the world and getting to the semifinals of grand slams and coming close. . . I've played some really tough matches against Amelie, and Justine. I don't feel I'm at the peak of my career," she said. "I feel like there's so much work ahead of me that can make me better. I can't start worrying about the fact that I haven't won a grand slam since (2004)."

"Experience has a lot to do with it. I'm playing girls who are 24 years old. They didn't win a grand slam when they were 17, but they're at the peak of their careers at 24 or 26. I've always been a player who plays by instinct," Maria Sharapova said. "I can't worry about what other people want me to do. You travel with a coach to help you with things. They scout the players and things like that. But on court, you don't worry about what you're going to do. You play your game."

Maria Sharapova wants equal prize money

Ex-Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova has called for women players to receive the same prize money as the men.

The 19-year-old world number three said: "I believe women deserve to be treated the same as men. "There has been a long debate about equal prize money but these things take time. If we keep pushing we'll eventually get there."

Of the four Grand Slam tournaments only Wimbledon awards its women's champion less money than their male equivalent. Maria Sharapova was speaking at a news conference for the WTA Tour's end-of-season championship, which is moving from Los Angeles to Madrid ...

Two of the world's leading female tennis players will compete in a match in Seoul next month.

They said that Russia's Maria Sharapova and America's Venus Williams will play against each other in eastern Seoul on Sept. 19 on the Korean post-harvest holiday of Chuseok. It promises to be the highestprofile tennis game ever in South Korea, according to organizers who hope it will promote the sport in a country more fascinated by other sports such as football and baseball. The 18-year-old Sharapova won the women's Wimbledon title in 2004, but the 25-year-old Williams took the coveted trophy last month.

Maria Sharapova stole the show last year at the Hansol Korea Open, the first WTA tour tournament ever held in South Korea. Although she only played several matches here, her visit led to a burst of interest in tennis across the country and media headlines that read "Sharapova Fever."