Maria Sharapova’s wildcard will be offered purely on ticket sales and media coverage according to world number one Andy Murray.
It was reported last week by the BBC, that talks were on-going between Camp Sharapova and the Lawn Tennis Assosication (LTA), that Sharapova will most likely be offered a wild card to compete in the Aegon Classic in Birmingham.
She recently returned after a 15 month ban after testing positive for meldonium, and currently ranks as the world number 258. This ranking is too low to gain entry into the tournament, and organisers are now looking to appoint one of the four wild cards to her.
Her return to the tennis world has caused quite the storm. Eugenie Bouchard branded her a ‘cheater’ and suggested that Sharapova should be banned for life. The two went on to play each other in the second round of the Madrid Open on Monday night, with Bouchard defeating Sharapova 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, which ended with the following cold handshake.
And seemingly now, Murray - who has been critical of Sharapova in the past - has again jumped on the bandwagon too. Speaking to BBC Sport about the possibility of Sharapova being allowed to play through a wild card he said,
‘I do think the tournaments are going to do what they think is going to sell the most tickets, give them the most coverage, get the most people in to watch.’
‘They’ve obviously done what they think is right for that event and maybe haven’t thought as much about the wider implications.’
It is also expected next week that Roland Garros will announce on Tuesday whether they plan to offer Sharapova a wild card for the qualifiers or the main draw of the French Open. Tense times indeed.
Aside from this worry for Sharapova, today she added fuel to feud between herself and Bouchard with a subtle little dig. She is yet to publicly respond to Bouchard’s comments, but today on her twitter account she liked a mockery image of Bouchard’s autobiography entitled, ‘Insufferable: My Life So Far.’ Yikes.
