MARIA Sharapova has not been handed a wild card into this year’s French Open, tournament organisers have announced on Facebook.
The 30-year-old former world number one has competed at three events since returning to competitive tennis following her 15-month doping suspension.
Sharapova tested positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open and her original two-year ban was reduced on appeal.
However, the Russian was not able to acquire enough ranking points to secure an automatic place in qualifying for Roland Garros.
French Tennis Federation president Bernard Giudicelli confirmed on Tuesday evening there would be no invitation for the two-time champion when announcing the wildcards for the 2017 tournament during a live Facebook broadcast.
Giudicelli is understood to have spoken to Sharapova ahead of his decision, with the Russian currently playing at the Italian Open in Rome, where she is set to face Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
The FTF president said on Facebook: “I just wanted to tell you that I decided not to give to Maria Sharapova a wild card, a wild card she asked me for.
“Nobody can deprive her of her two titles here in Roland Garros, but these two titles she had conquered them according to the rules and behold nothing to anyone.”
Ferrandini then spoke about how the Court of Arbitration for Sport “reduced her sanction, but agreed with the independent panel she had committed a violation of the anti-doping tennis programme and she had to be suspended for 15 months”.
He continued: “Today this suspension is over and she can take her path towards the new success, but if there can be a wild card for return from injuries then there cannot be a wild card for return from doping.
“So it is up to her, day after day, tournament after tournament, to find alone the strength to conquer major titles without being held to anybody.
“I’m very sorry for Maria, very sorry for her fans. They might be very disappointed and she might be very disappointed, but it is my responsibility and my mission to protect the game and protect high standards of the game played without any ‘doping’ on the result, so that is our decision.”
Meanwhile, a series of rule changes are to be trialled at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan later this year, which will include sets of the first-to-four games as well as no advantage scoring. The ATP hope the innovations will help both engage new and younger fans to the sport as well as creating “a high-tempo, cutting-edge, and TV-friendly product”.
As part of the experiment, should game scores be level at deuce, then there will be no advantage played with the next point to win instead, while a ‘no-let’ rule will be applied to serves and a shot clock will be used to enforce the strict 25-second rule.
The plans include a tie-break should the scores reach 3-3 with matches played out as best of five sets.
Warm-ups will be limited to “precisely five minutes from the second player walk-on” with a limit of one medical time out per player per match and players will also be allowed to communicate with their coaches at certain times, which will “provide additional content and entertainment value for broadcast”.
TShould there be a positive reception to the initiatives at the season-ending tournament for the world’s top under-21 players, then they could be rolled out at other events in the future.
ATP executive chairman and president Chris Kermode said: “We are excited to be bringing something new to the table with this event.
“We have created this new tournament precisely to allow us to look at some potential new elements, in a high-profile environment.”
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