Former Top 5 player Nicolas Kiefer will be joining Maria’s Sharapova’s team as a hitting partner during the next three weeks. Thomas Hogstedt, who has worked with Kiefer before, coaches Sharapova. Sharapova’s usual hitting partner, Vladimir Voltchkov, hurt his ankle badly during the first week of the Australian Open and will be out for a few months.

“Nicolas has been nice enough to agree to hit with Maria for the next three weeks,” Sharapova’s agent, Max Eisenbud told TENNIS.com. “We will then have another hitter join the team at Indian Wells until Vladimir is back healthy and ready to go."