Sharapova to miss U.S. Open after shoulder injury

By Matthew Cronin

OAKLAND (Reuters) - Russian world number three Maria Sharapova will miss the U.S. Open starting next month and could be sidelined for up to three months after an examination of her injured right shoulder revealed a torn rotator cuff.

After examining Sharapova's scan, Dr David Altchek determined the injury would not require surgery but said she could be out of action for the rest of the season.

Sharapova, 21, had already announced on Thursday she would not take part in the Beijing Olympics after the sore shoulder forced her to withdraw from the Montreal Cup following a second round 7-5 5-7 6-2 win over Poland's Marta Domachowska.

The Australian Open champion has only played three matches since losing to Dinara Safina in the fourth round of the French Open.

"The doctor does not believe that I need surgery and is sending me to work with a specialist in Arizona next week to do extensive rehab and strength work and he believes that I should be ready to play in two to three months," Sharapova said in a statement on Friday.

"It hurts me so much to miss the Olympics and the U.S. Open. I think this will be the first grand slam I have ever missed."

Sharapova first re-injured her shoulder at Indian Wells in March when stretching for a backhand against Alona Bondarenko.

"Altchek looked at all my tests from April and today and informed me that I have been playing with a moderate tear in my rotator cuff tendon since April," she said. "He actually couldn't believe that I've been playing this long with this injury.

"You can imagine that I was not very thrilled to hear that my medical team did not see this tear in my shoulder back in April.

"The good news is that it didn't get much worse since April, but we could have started the healing time back then instead of now.

"Now I need to move forward and stay positive," the three times grand slam champion added. "I am going to work hard to get healthy. Once I'm healthy, I'm sure I'll look at this as a blessing in disguise.

(Editing by John Mehaffey)