Maria Sharapova is in the midst of a valiant come back effort from shoulder surgery. The injury she battled with, most notably in Wimbledon 2008, was caused in part to her violent serving motion. Sharapova once generated one of the WTA's most incendiary serves of all time from her 6' 2'' frame. Now she has a rebuilt service motion to go along with her rebuilt shoulder and a new coach, former ATP World Tour player Michael Joyce.

"Before the injury," Joyce said, "her serve was a huge weapon for her and it's difficult to make a change like this. But right now her arm isn't ready to serve the way she did before the surgery and maybe it never will be and that's why we've made the adjustment."

"It's a tough thing for an athlete at Maria's level to do, to make a big change like this to something that had been second nature. She used to have a very loose, long, drawn-out motion. She had a tough serve, but her arm was going in a lot of directions."

Sharapova is in her sixth tournament since returning to WTA play. She has most recently advanced past Alona Bondarenko in the LA Women's Tennis Championship , rallying for a 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 win, avenging a 6-2, 6-2 loss in May when she rejoined the tour after her seven-month layoff.

"It was good to get the win and get my revenge," Sharapova said. "The second set I started serving a lot better and harder and I returned great and put a lot of pressure on her serve. Then I was able to get the break in the third set and keep the momentum going from the second."

With Dinara Safina being upset by China's Zheng Jie 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 and the Williams sisters not entering the tournament, Sharapova could be looking at her first tournament win since returning. The win would come just in time and would be ideal in setting her up for her first Grand Slam win since her hiatus, all the while propelling her up the ranks to reclaim her seat as the "Princess of Tennis."

All of that is just wishful thinking for Sharapova who is just happy to be competing again.

"While I was off," she said, "I missed the game every day. That I did learn. I want to be out here very much."

Let's hope she stays competing, for having the privilege of watching a true gem of the game is something we all missed.

With the 2009 US Open Series continuing in its fourth week, the competition is finally beginning to beef up in Montreal for the Rogers Cup. Nineteen of the top twenty men on the ATP tour will be competing. With an ailing hip and recovery from recent surgery, David Nalbandian is the odd man out of the tournament. That means defending champion Rafael Nadal, who is recovering from knee tendinitis, and two-time champion Roger Federer, who recently became a father of twins, are among the big names set to take the court this week.

Federer and Nadal, as the respective number 1 and 2 players in the world, can meet in the final but there are no shortage of obstacles for the both of them. Nadal must go through Novak Djokovic (No. 4) or Andy Roddick (No. 5) who could meet in the quarterfinals while Federer may have to go through Andy Murray (No. 3) in the semifinals. With such wonderful distractions, dare I say RFed (the GOAT) may come in to Montreal a little rusty? With Rafael Nadal making a return from a physical ailment, you have to favor anyone who faces him in the later rounds. But, who knows what the Bull can pull out of the bag. One thing is for sure, all eyes will be watching as Nadal and his level of mobility as he sees his first bit of action today in Doubles against Djokovic.

With he two biggest names in Men's tennis it is far too easy to overlook the rest of the competition which includes Andy Roddick and Juan Martin Del Potro who faced each other on Sunday, August, 9 for the final of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, DC. Del Potro defeated Roddick 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(6) to take the crown. Roddick, who made his return from a strained hip flexor, appeared to be close to regaining full form.

The Rogers Cup is the first tournament of the US Open Series that appears to be a preview of the actual US Open which begins August, 31. But with a couple of question marks up in the air, this tournament is anyone's game.