Sharapova to return to tennis next week for exhibition game against Ivanovic

Washington: Former World No.1 Maria Sharapova will play her first match since August when she takes on Serbian player Ana Ivanovic in Bogota, Colombia next week in an exhibition match.

According to TennisWorldUSA.org, Sharapova has played only one match since Wimbledon, a loss to Sloane Stephens due to a shoulder injury. Since Wimbledon, she hired and fired Jimmy Connors as her coach and is now working with Sven Gronefeld, the report said. The exhibition follows a series of exhibitions involving Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal last week in South America, which attracted huge crowds, the report added. Sharapova is scheduled to make her return to the WTA Tour in Brisbane as she warms up for the Australian Open, the report further said.