London - Wimbledon and the French Open will find themselves in a moral maze when the question arises of Maria Sharapova’s potential participation next year.
The date of Sharapova’s permitted comeback is April 26, a Wednesday, so that she will not be able to start playing tournaments until the next week.
The entry deadlines for the Grand Slams are six weeks before they start, meaning she would certainly need a wildcard for Roland Garros. Unless her return is a spectacular success early on, she would need one for Wimbledon as well.
The 2017 Championships begin on July 3, with the ranking entry cut-off point of just over 100 being reached on May 22.
Sharapova will restart with no ranking, but for pure publicity value any tournament and its sponsors would love to have her in the field.
The dilemma for SW19 and Roland Garros will be whether to take the view that she has ‘done the crime and done the time’, or to decide it would be unseemly to welcome her back so quickly.
She is a former champion of both Paris and Wimbledon and a huge draw for spectators, so if her absence had been due to an injury there would be no question of her being offered one of the privileged entries into the main draw.
However, the original ITF tribunal revealed that Sharapova had taken meldonium for six days in one week during Wimbledon 2015.
Were the All England Club to go out of their way to welcome back Sharapova by giving her a wildcard, they would certainly draw criticism from some quarters. A spokes- person for the All England Club restricted himself to saying on Tuesday: ‘The decision on wildcards for the 2017 Championships will take place according to the usual protocols.’
These protocols usually refer to such things as previous form on grass, the promise of a British player or whether a player deserves a lucky break after injury.
The tournaments on the main WTA Tour on May 1 are low-key affairs in Morocco and Prague, immediately followed by the much higher profile Madrid Open and Italian Open that precede Roland Garros.
Another question that is likely to arise is whether Sharapova will be given a wildcard into the three LTA-run grass court events leading up to Wimbledon.
It is also possible, in theory, that Sharapova might elect to play much lower level Challenger or even Futures events before tackling the top players at WTA level.
HOW THE TENNIS WORLD REACTED:
Her racket sponsor Head
Head congratulate Maria on the ruling. We are proud to have stood by Maria.
Pam Shriver
Maria’s 1st statement since ban throws ITF under the bus. Why not just be grateful about ability to return sooner!
Martina Navratilova
She made a huge mistake, is paying for it in a big way, and will play in April 2017
Sharapova is ranked world No 95 and won’t have a ranking when she returns before the French Open and Wimbledon next summer - meaning she will not qualify automatically.
Daily Mail