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Sharapova's current ranking of 258, after a return from a
15-month doping suspension last month, was too low to merit a
direct entry for the grasscourt event and the organizers are
looking to give her one of the four available wild cards, the
report said.
The 30-year-old Russian last won the Birmingham event in 2005
but her most recent appearance was in 2010.
"We are in the process of deciding which players will receive
wild cards for our summer season grass-court tournaments," an
LTA spokesman told the Times.
The five-time grand slam winner Sharapova reached the Stuttgart
Grand Prix semi-finals last month in her first tournament since
being banned but lost 7-5 2-6 6-4 to Canadian Eugenie Bouchard
in the second round of the Madrid Open on Monday.
The tournament is scheduled from June 17-25 at the Edgbaston
Priory Club ahead of the Wimbledon, starting on July 3.
Sharapova's hopes of featuring in this year's Wimbledon could
hinge on a June 20 meeting of tournament organizers unless the
Russian finds form in the forthcoming event in Rome.
(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; editing by Sudipto
Ganguly)
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