Paris: Maria Sharapova will find out in the month of May if she can compete at the French Open. French tennis federation president Bernard Giudicelli said Wednesday that the announcement will be made on Facebook on May 16 at 7 pm local time. “The only guarantee I gave her is to call her beforehand,” Guidicelli said without giving any indication on whether Sharapova will get a positive answer.
“There is no reason why we should make an exception for Maria Sharapova, there is no reason why we should announce a wild card before the others,” Guidicelli added. The five-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1 returned to competition this week as a wild-card entry at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany. Sharapova was suspended after testing positive for the banned substance meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open. The ban was reduced from two years to 15 months last October by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Meldonium, which was previously legal, was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency earlier that year, but Sharapova claims she missed the memo instructing her to stop using it.
Giudicelli said the federation’s decision would not be linked to Serena Wililams’ withdrawal from the tournament. “Serena is on maternity leave and Serena’s situation is completely different,” he said. “We are dealing with these issues separately.” As for the men’s draw, tournament director Guy Forget said he had not received more information regarding Roger Federer’s participation. The former No.1 is currently on a break from the tour, skipping most of the clay-court season. “I have not received any information suggesting that he would take Roland Garros off his schedule,” Forget said. “Behind (Rafael) Nadal, he is the best clay-court player. He is capable of settling in very quickly.”
