The 30-year-old Russian, who returned from a 15-month doping ban in April, had hoped to participate in the competition at the England Sports Centre in Roehampton, which runs from June 26 to 29, in a bid to earn a spot at Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam of the season.

Sharapova confirmed, however, that the thigh injury she sustained at the Rome Masters on May 16 was worse than she first feared.

It will see her miss the entire grass court campaign, including next week's Aegon Classic at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Birmingham, which she had been granted a wildcard for.

The five-time Grand Slam champion hopes to return in time to compete at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, scheduled to begin on July 30.

"After an additional scan, the muscle tear that I sustained in Rome will unfortunately not allow me to compete in the grass court tournaments I was scheduled to play," Sharapova wrote on Facebook.

"I will continue to work on my recovery and my next scheduled tournament is in Stanford."

The injury will also mean she will need to qualify or be given a wildcard entry for the US Open at Flushing Meadows in New York later this year as her ranking will not be high enough to earn a direct place at the tournament.

Sharapova is currently ranked at number 178 in the world.

She was denied a wildcard for the French Open, which concluded at Roland Garros in Paris yesterday.

Her first Grand Slam title came on Centre Court in London in 2004 as a 17-year-old.

Sharapova, who won women's singles silver at the London 2012 Olympic Games in the competition played at Wimbledon, was handed a two-year ban after testing positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open.

This suspension was reduced to 15 months following an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who deemed that she had not doped intentionally.