French Open 2017: No wildcard entry for Maria Sharapova

Paris, May 17: Russian superstar Maria Sharapova will not feature at this year's French Open after the organisers decided against giving her a wildcard.

Sharapova has returned to competitive tennis after serving a doping ban. She was out of action for 15 months due to doping offence. She was banned in March 2016 after testing positive for banned substance Meldonium at Australian Open in January.

The two-time French Open champion was hoping for a wildcard to compete at Roland Garros. However, the organisers announced the list of wildcard entrants and Sharapova's name was missing.

"There can be a wildcard for the return from injuries - there cannot be a wildcard for the return from doping," French Tennis Federation chief Bernard Giudicelli Ferrandini was quoted as saying by "BBC".

"I'm very sorry for Maria, very sorry for her fans. They might be very disappointed, she might be very disappointed, but it's my responsibility, my mission, to protect the high standards of the game played without any doubt on the result," Ferradini added.

The 30-year-old Sharapova is currently playing in Rome Masters. She won her first round match on Monday (May 15).

Wildcards for French Open

Men's singles main draw

Julien Benneteau

Benjamin Bonzi

Mathias Bourgue

Quentin Halys

Laurent Lokoli

Alexandre Muller

Tennys Sandgren (USA)

Following an agreement between the FFT and Tennis Australia, a wildcard is allocated to a player from Australia.

Women's singles main draw

Tessah Andrianjafitrimo

Fiona Ferro

Myrtille Georges

Amandine Hesse

Alize Lim

Chloe Paquet

Amanda Anisimova (USA)

Following an agreement between the FFT and Tennis Australia, a wildcard is allocated to a player from Australia.

Men's singles qualifying draw

Gregoire Barrère

Geoffrey Blancaneaux

Jonathan Eysseric

Maxime Hamou

Calvin Hemery

Constant Lestienne

Corentin Moutet

Gleb Sakharov

Women's singles qualifying draw

Audrey Albie

Manon Arcangioli

Yasmine Mansouri

Jessika Ponchet

Jade Suvrijn

Harmony Tan

Following an agreement between the FFT and Tennis Canada, a wildcard is allocated to a player from Canada.

Wheelchair tennis

Shingo Kunieda (JPN)

Charlotte Famin

Note: All players from France unless stated

OneIndia News