MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. Maria Sharapova plans to return to the court by this year’s closing of the Grand Slam tournament, the US Open, which is scheduled to run between August 26 and September 8, the Russian tennis star said in an interview with the Eurosport television channel.

Playing on Tuesday in the first round of the 2019 Wimbledon against Pauline Parmentier, Sharapova retired after two hours and 16 minutes because of a wrist injury. She was down 6-4; 6-7 (4-7); 0-5 before leaving the court.

"I felt the pain in the middle of the second set and it kept hindering me both physically and emotionally," Sharapova said. "I would have retired immediately if it was a tournament of a different class, but this was Wimbledon and I tried to do everything possible."

The 2019 Wimbledon Championship runs between July 1 and 14 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, and offers $49.4 million in prize money up for grabs.

"I need to undergo MRT [magnetic resonance tomography] now," she said. "After I recover, I hope to play at the tournaments in Cincinnati and Toronto as well as at the US Open."

Sharapova, who turned 32 this April, is Russia’s most decorated tennis player having won a total of five Grand Slam tournaments, namely the Australian Open in 2008, the French Open in 2012 and 2014, Wimbledon in 2004 and the US Open in 2006. She also won silver in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and was the 2008 Federations Cup champion.

In 2018, Sharapova competed in 11 tennis tournaments, including four Grand Slam events. Her best results last season were the semifinals of the tournaments in China’s Shenzhen and Italy’s capital city, Rome.