Maria Sharapova has pulled out of two upcoming tournaments this month on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, citing the ongoing rehabilitation on her right shoulder as the cause. She will no longer be competing at next week's Open GDF SUEZ in Paris or the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships the following week.

It was the same injury that recently led to her bowing out of competition at this year's Australian Open and last year's Olympics and US Open. Her next scheduled event is the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California in early March.

"I'm very disappointed to be unable to compete in the upcoming Open GDF SUEZ and Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, both of which are great events that I was very much hoping to be able to play," said Sharapova on her official website. "My shoulder continues to improve every day and I am working very hard on the practice court. I'm looking forward to being back on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour very soon."

Last summer at the Rogers Cup in Montréal, Sharapova committed 17 double faults during a match against Marta Domachawska, and needed to seek treatment for her right shoulder twice during play. Though she was victorious in that match, she had to withdraw from the tournament to prevent further injury. It was then revealed that she had been playing with a torn rotator cuff since April 2008. In September, she announced that she will be taking the remainder of 2008 off.

After withdrawing from the Australian Open, her rank fell from No.9 to No.17 - her lowest rank in almost 5 years. Sharapova captured the world No.1 spot on August 22, 2005 and has held onto the position for a total of 17 weeks throughout her career. She was the first Russian to hold the No.1 position.