Will Maria Kirilenko take the 2014 tennis season off to allow her knee to recuperate and enjoy being married? Will she lose the competitive fire to return to the tennis court? These are the major questions that are starting to be discussed in hushed tones by many of the tennis observers now that she is engaged to hockey star Alexander Ovechkin and recovering from her knee injury suffered at the 2013 Aegon International Tennis tournament. What is interesting about these comments is that it is obvious that people truly do not know the competitiveness that resides within the body of Maria Kirilenko.
Maria Kirilenko returning shot
One of the attributes that distinguishes Maria Kirilenko from many other tennis players and has allowed her to achieve a world ranking of number ten in the world prior to her knee injury is that she is incredibly competitive. This is a woman who has acknowledged in interviews that while most women tennis players do know each other off the court she does not have any fellow tennis competitors with whom she is close friends off the court.
Maria Kirilenko if she is smart may take this year off to recuperate her knee fully but for those tennis fans who are fearful that she might lose her competitive fire you need not worry because that is likely not going to happen. One of the traits that made her such a great match with hockey star Alexander Ovechkin is that she like him is very competitive and hates to lose at anything. For those competitors who hope she will move closer to retirement there is a better chance of Vladimir Putin becoming an American citizen and pledging allegiance to the United States flag.
Maria Kirilenko modelling photo
Maria Kirilenko's biggest challenge of 2014 will be allowing her knee to fully recuperate so that she can return to play at full strength and not allowing her hyper-competitiveness push her to come back to action before she is ready but she will come back to play tennis.
Maria Kirilenko at Indian Wells in 2013
