Sania Mirza to miss US Open

Sania Mirza's wrist injury has forced her to miss the 2008 US Open, the final Grand Slam of the year, which starts next week.

"I've always done well at the US Open and it is very disappointing for me to miss a Grand Slam on my favourite surface due to my wrist injury," India's top woman player said in a statement.

Mirza, 21, has struggled to come to terms with her game since undergoing wrist surgery and has been advised complete rest for an initial period of 3 weeks.

The injury also forced her to retire in her first round match at the Beijing Olympics. Mirza first injured her wrist during the Indian Wells tournament in March, necessitating a surgery in Miami the following month.

Mirza dropped out of the Top 40 in July and is currently ranked 63 in the world.

Sania Mirza says road to total recovery tough

Sania Mirza's loss in her comeback match at the DFS Classic at Birmingham this week suggests that India's number one tennis player may need some more time to return to top form after undergoing wrist surgery.

Marina Erakovic is no pushover. After all, she won the Surbiton event last week. But Mirza's straight-set loss to the Kiwi player was still surprising.

"There is some pain in the wrist when I play particular strokes and there are still a few movements that I find difficult," Mirza told the Indian Tennis Blog via email.

"I hope to get back soon to the level I was playing at before the injury but the road to total recovery is going to be longer than I thought."

Coming just two weeks before Wimbledon, it wasn't quite the start the 21-year-old was looking forward to on her return to the WTA Tour after three months of inactivity.

To top it all, Mirza might just miss getting seeded for the premier tennis Grand Slam after slipping to 33 in the WTA rankings.

Mirza and her American partner Bethanie Mattek also lost in their doubles opener at Birmingham.

"Even though Sania's recovery has been swift, her wrist will still need some time to adapt to and to generate high intensity power in high pressured match situations," Mirza's trainer and physiotherapist Renuka Pinto said.

"The only way this can be achieved is by allowing the wrist to be exposed to match situations in a phased manner."

Sania Mirza pulls out of French Open

India's number one tennis player Sania Mirza will not be playing at next week's French Open, her father Imran Mirza said on Monday.

The 21-year-old Sania is yet to fully recover from a wrist surgery conducted in April and is now expected to make a comeback at the $200,000 DFS Classic in Birmingham next month.

"Hopefully, she will start with Birmingham on 9th June," Imran Mirza told the Indian Tennis Blog.

Last year at Roland Garros, Sania had won a match for the first time in three tries. She then lost in the second round to eventual finalist Ana Ivanovic.

Despite her inactivity in recent weeks, Sania managed to hold on to her ranking and moved one place up to 32 on Monday, thanks to world number one Justine Henin's sudden retirement from professional tennis.

"I would say she is about 80 percent recovered," Imran Mirza had told the blog about Sania's recovery on Wednesday.

"The cast came off on the 5th but there is still a little pain in the wrist and she is still not able to bend it completely forwards and backwards due to the pain."