Perhaps seeing the errors of her ways, from that borderline-hideous Wimbledon outfit to her plummeting ranking, Maria Kirilenko decided she would never be Mrs. Ovechkin. Sixteen months ago, she and fiancé Alex Ovechkin, an NHL star, were planning a wedding. Now, Kirilenko, 27 years young, is nursing a comeback after suffering a knee injury in fall 2013 and finding her ranking falling from No. 10 to its present perch at No. 93.
In a statement given to the Russian sports federation, Kirilenko did not go into particulars about her relationship's end but rather wished Ovechkin well in his athletic exploits.
The two seemed inseparable since uniting in 2011, that after Kirilenko's relationship with ATP player Igor Andreev ended, with Ovechkin often appearing at her tennis tournaments and she frequenting his Washington Capitals hockey games.
Perhaps this is the difference between how sports stars on the verge of age 30 end things, as opposed to how Caroline Wozniacki, 24, and Rory McIlroy, 25, have handled the dissolution of their own engagement, with a phone-based breakup and thinly veiled verbal jabs on social media. In any case, the Spin wishes both Kirilenko and Ovechkin well. For one, tennis is better off with a healthy "Kiri." She showed sparks of yesteryear's fight in taking out Sloane Stephens in Wimbledon's opening round late last month. Perhaps she can find that full-fledged drive again.
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