Since returning from that suspension in 2017, Sharapova managed to reach only one Slam quarterfinal.

Her 6-3, 6-4 loss to Donna Vekic at Melbourne last month sent Sharapova's ranking tumbling outside of the top 350-she is 373rd this week.

Asked after that defeat whether it might have been her last appearance at the Australian Open, Sharapova replied:" I don't know."

"I put in all the right work. There is no guarantee that even when you do all of those things, that you're guaranteed victory in a first round or in the third round or in the final. That's the name of this game," Sharapova said after what turned out to be her final match.

A little more than a month later, she told the world she was done with her playing career.

"Tennis showed me the world-and it showed me what I was made of. It's how I tested myself and how I measured my growth," Sharapova wrote on Twitter on Wednesday." And so in whatever I might choose for my next chapter, my next mountain, I'll still be pushing. I'll still be climbing. I'll still be growing."

AP/XINHUA