I just finished watching the tail end of the Maria Sharapova – Caroline Garcia first round match at the Porsche Grand Prix Open. She will drop out of the top 50 with this loss. This is a tournament Maria has won three times. As she walks out of this tournament, Sharapova’s losses just keep piling up. A few weeks ago, I talked about her fancy outfits possibly being part of the problem. She wasn’t wearing a fancy outfit against Caroline, and still lost. Credit to Maria that Caroline Garcia is a top-notch player, and she played her tough. Regardless, since reaching the third round at Australia, she’s lost in the first round of the last three tournaments she’s entered. So, what’s next for Maria?

Expectations were pretty high for Maria after serving a one year suspension for doping. After all, she’s been a five-time grand slam winner and just turned 31. In today’s game, everyone seems to be performing great in their early 30s. Why can’t’ Maria find her groove? It could be the need for an injection of new people in her team. At least she seems to think so given that she split from her coach of four years Sven Groeneveld recently. However, it seems she’s tapped an old coach of hers Thomas Hogstedt.

Hopefully, this reinvigorates Sharapova, and she exorcises whatever demons are wreaking havoc on her game. Maria is better than this. She should be winning tournaments, not losing in the first round of lower tiered WTA ones. She’s a five-time Grand Slam champion! A former number 1! She’s also great on clay, having won the French open in 2012 and 2014, and the Italian Open as recently as 2015. If she’s going to make a move, it has to be on clay and right now. Otherwise, it’s going to be a long way to the top for this former champion.