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Melbourne (dpa) - Maria Sharapova sees no reason why Martina Hingis could not claw her way back toward the top of tennis.
With the Swiss back in Grand Slam action after a three-year retirement, the past and presents of the women's game are in a major draw together for the first time.
Both high-profile women are sure to be major drawing cards when the Australian Open begins Monday.
Sharapova said Saturday she's glad to see the five-time Grand Slam champion Swiss back in the mix.
"It brings so much more excitement to the game and so much more attention, just makes it more exciting," said the 18-year-old former Wimbledon winner.
"She's not seeded right now, so sometimes she can play a seed first round. It's just kind of that unexpected great player that you can play maybe first round, like it happened last week (in Sydney against Justine Henin-Hardenne).
"It brings a lot of excitement, that's for sure."
But Sharapova, seeded fourth, declined to predict how far a three- time Australian Open winner like Hingis might be able to go in the draw.
"It's definitely not easy at the beginning. She still has all the experience. But health-wise, I don't think it's really easy just to come back and be healthy when you're playing so many tournaments at a time, when you haven't played for a long time.
"But it depends on the individual."
Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
