NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Four-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova admitted during the U.S. Open Friday that she has broken up with Slovenian basketball player Sasha Vujacic.

At her postmatch news conference following a 6-1, 6-1 victory over NCAA runner-up Mallory Burdette to reach the fourth round, Sharapova said her relationship with Vujacic has been over "since the end of spring, actually.

Vujacic appeared at Wimbledon last year to cheer Sharapova during her run to the final but his move from the NBA to Turkey made it difficult for the pair to see each other.

"It was a really nice period of time for both of us, but, you know, our career schedules just made it extremely difficult to see each other with the traveling, and especially his career move to Turkey. ... He wasn't able to travel much. He wasn't home one time during the 10 months that he was in Turkey, so that made it extremely difficult," Sharapova said.