Paris: Two-time champion Maria Sharapova will not play at Roland Garros this year after the French tennis federation denied her a wild card, FFT president Bernard Guidicelli said on Tuesday.
The former world number one, who only returned from a 15-month doping ban last month, will miss the French Open, which she won in 2012 and 2014, for the second year in a row.
“Nobody can deprive her of her two titles at Roland Garros, but today I can’t grant her the wild card requested,” Guidicelli said on Facebook Live.
“The titles won here, she won within the rules without owing anything to anyone.
“While wild cards exist for players returning from injury, there is nothing for a return from a doping ban,” he added.
The five-time Grand Slam champion was banned for two years for using meldonium, with the penalty later reduced by the Court of Arbitration which ruled she was not an intentional doper. After the ban expired, she returned to competition at the Stuttgart Open, reaching the semifinals, and progressed to the last 32 of the Madrid Open, too late to earn a qualifying spot for Paris.
