Andy Murray against wild card for Sharapova
World No.1 Andy Murray has expressed his skepticism at tournament organizers' decision to give wild cards to the players returning from doping bans. The Briton though believes that Maria Sharapova could accumulate sufficient points before the Wimbledon and won't need to depend on wild cards.
Following the 2016 Australian Open, Sharapova failed a drug test when banned substance Meldonium was detected in one of her samples. The ITF did not twiddle their thumbs and took the bold step of suspending one of their star players for a period of two years. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), however, later reduced the sentence by nine months making the Russian available for the upcoming 2017 French Open. However, she will be available for the upcoming Stuttgart Grand Prix in July. But, Murray is against giving wild cards to alleged dopers.
"I think you should really have to work your way back. However, the majority of tournaments are going to do what they think is best for their event," Murray told the Times newspaper.
Murray understood the dilemma that tournament organizers would have undergone before allowing Sharapova based on commercial reasons. He, however, looked forward to how the Wimbledon plays its cards on the issue given its heritage and standing.
"If they think having big names there is going to sell more seats, then they're going to do that. She (Sharapova) has an opportunity to try to improve her ranking up until that point and potentially not need a wild card."
"But then if she doesn't, that becomes Wimbledon's decision and how they want to play that," added the Briton.
"I'm sure they'll think long and hard about it and how they feel people will view it and then make the right decision for them."
It was not the first time that the Briton has spoken against Sharapova as earlier in March 2016, he had said that the Russian deserved to be banned.
“It’s not up to me to decide the punishment, but if you’re taking performance enhancing drugs and you fail a drugs test, you have to get suspended,” Murray had said in a press conference then.
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