Sharapova should not get French Open wildcard, says rival Radwanska
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[April 22, 2017]
WARSAW (Reuters) - Former world
number one tennis player Maria Sharapova should not be fast-tracked
into next month's French Open as she returns from a doping ban,
insists Polish rival Agnieszka Radwanska.
With double French Open champion Sharapova currently unranked, all
eyes will be on the French Tennis Federation (FFT) next month when
it decides whether or not to hand the 30-year-old a wildcard into
the tournament.
A decision will be announced during "the week of May 15", the French
federation, which organizes the tournament, said in a statement to
Reuters on Friday.
The French Open starts on May 28.
Sharapova makes her comeback to the WTA Tour after 15 months out in
Stuttgart next week, after gaining a wildcard, and has also been
given invites to play in Madrid and Rome.
Roland Garros organizers will be wrestling with the moral conundrum
surrounding a wildcard -- or free entry into the French Open --
given that Sharapova is the biggest draw card in women's tennis
right now, and arguably much needed given the absence of Serena
Williams who earlier this week announced her pregnancy.
Regardless, Radwanska believes entry to the year's second grand slam
tournament would be a step too far.
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"Now in Germany, next in Spain, but so far she hasn't been invited
to play at slams in Paris and London and in my opinion that's how it
should remain," world number eight Radwanska told Poland's sports
daily Przeglad Sportowy.
"She should win her place thanks to good results."
Sharapova was originally banned for two years following a positive
test for the newly-banned drug Meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open
but the sanction was reduced to 15 months by the Court of
Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Last week she criticized the International Tennis Federation (ITF)
for not doing enough to warn her that Meldonium -- a product she had
used legally throughout her career to combat health issues -- had
been added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned
substances in late 2015.
Sharapova, 30, is likely to receive a lukewarm reception in
Stuttgart next week with several players, including another former
world number one Caroline Wozniacki, also questioning whether she
should have received a wildcard.
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![](../images/042217pics/sports49.jpg)
Maria Sharapova of Russia serves during her match against Serena
Williams of the U.S.A. at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in
London, July 9, 2015. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
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Men's world number one Andy Murray has also voiced
his disapproval about the return of Sharapova who was caught out by
the sport's anti-doping laws after failing to realize that
Meldonium, previously legal, had been added to the banned list.
"I'm not hiding my views. I think the same as Andy Murray,"
Radwanska, who has beaten Sharapova only twice in 15 attempts, told
the newspaper.
"This kind of entry into the tournament should be available only for
players who were dropped in the ranking due to injury, illness or
other random accident.
"Not for those suspended for doping. Maria should rebuild her career
in a different way, beginning with smaller events.
"She wouldn't have a chance for (a wildcard) from my hands (if I was
a tournament director)."
With the main draw deadline passed Sharapova's hopes of playing in
the tournament she won in 2012 and 2014 could rest with FFT
president Bernard Giudicelli who last month admitted the decision
was "complicated".
The absence of three-times winner Serena Williams, could be a factor
as the women's game is short on big personalities.
Playing through the qualifying tournament is also a possibility for
Sharapova, although in order to have a high enough ranking for the
May 1 deadline to enter that she would probably have to win the
Stuttgart title.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman in London; Additional reporting by
Julien Pretot and Piotr Kwiatkowski; Editing by Ossian Shine) [© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All
rights reserved.]
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