World number four Maria Sharapova will face Serbian tennis star Ana Ivanovic at an exhibition match that will take place in Bogota next week.
The two former world number one players will be in Colombia and will start warming up for the 2014 season. This is Sharapova’s first match since August while Ivanovic last competed at the Tournament of Champions earlier this month in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Sharapova has been dealing with a shoulder injury since July and is now working with a new coach – Sven Groenefeld, who also used to work with Ivanovic in the past.
The off season usually features a number of exhibition tournaments. Last week, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal headline a series of exhibition events in Chile and Argentina to commemorate Nicolas Massu and David Nalbandian who have retired from tennis earlier this year. The event gathered sold out crowds.
Sharapova is also slated to compete in two more exhibition tournaments in Mexico City and Thailand before starting her 2014 season at the Brisbane International later next month.
