Maria Sharapova insists she has made a lot of progress since her return from a doping ban
"I felt I made that mistake of playing far too many tournaments in consecutive weeks"
Wednesday 4 July 2018 15:08, UK
Maria Sharapova says she is more concerned about her "longevity" and insists she is not finished as a Grand Slam force despite her worst ever performance at Wimbledon.
Sharapova's return to the All England Club ended in defeat to fellow Russian Vitalia Diatchenko - a qualifier ranked a lowly 132 in the world.
The 31-year-old Sharapova was making her first appearance at the tournament in three years having served a doping ban and then withdrawn from qualifying through injury 12 months ago.
It was also her first appearance on grass in that time, having pulled out of competing in Birmingham last month.
The 2004 Wimbledon champion won the first set on a tie-break and led 5-2 in the second but Diatchenko broke back, took the tie-break and prevailed in the third to win 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-4.
Sharapova reflected on her defeat by admitting she played too much tennis over the course of the clay season, which set her back ahead of Wimbledon.
"I would have loved to have played Birmingham. I felt I made that mistake of playing far too many tournaments in consecutive weeks. The clay season was a lot of matches, much more than I've played in a really long time," Sharapova said in the aftermath of her loss. "It would have been great to play an event, but I had to make a decision for my body and for my longevity rather than to go and play a few matches.
"At this moment, my competitive desire is not great. It's always tough to assess motivation after a first-round loss. There's no doubt that when I will - I don't shy away from mistakes and errors, looking back at film, learning from what went wrong.
"It's not always pleasant moments, but sometimes those are the ones you need to get better."
Sharapova also insists she can still be a force again, despite her last major triumph coming at Roland Garros in 2014.
"Tennis is a process," she added. "I've made a lot of progress in the last few months. I find myself in a much better position than at this time last year."
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