Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova will participate in the 2017 US Tennis Open- Championship since her elimination in the quarter-finals of the 2016 Australian Open.
Returning to the competition in April after suspended for fifteen months, Sharapova, currently 148th world,had met in May the refusal of the organizers of Roland Garros to grant her a “wild card”. The latter had ruled this advantage was not designed to faciliate the rerurn of players punished for doping.
Anticipating a new rebuff at Wimbledo, the 30-year-old had deicded to embark on qualifying, which her wolrd ranking gave her acces through the points accumulated in her first tournaments. In particular, she reached the semi-finals of her recovery event in Stuttgart. But a injury on her hamstring had forced her to withdraw.
“In line with our past policy, we have given an invitation to a former US Open champin (in 2006) who needed it to enter the table directly.” the organizers said. “Maria Sharapova is part of the field that will receive a wild card for the 2017 US Open.” they added.
The tournament management thought that the doping suspension having been purged, had not to be taken into account in the award of the “wild card”. The organizers added that Sharapova volunteered to talk about doping to young players.
In January 2016, at the Australian Open Championship, Sharapova was tested positive for meldonium, a drug misapproriated for doping purposes and placed on the list of products banned on January 1, 2016.
Sharapova, who had admitted not to have checked the composition of the new list, had been suspended for two years. But the sanction was then reduced to fifteen months, which allowed her to find the courts in the spring.
Maria Sharapova, at the Stanford Tournament, California, July 31, 2017. (Source:www.sportsinquirer.net)
After her good run in Stuttgart, she was quickly eliminated at the tournaments in Madrid and Rome, where she was also invited.
Cured of her hamstring injury, she resumed competition in early August at Stanford, where she won a game before withdrawing due to her arms injury.
Sharapova told herself out of for the Cincinnati and Toronto tournaments and will report to Flushing Meadows without much reference.
German Angelique Kerber won the last Grand Slam tournament of the season and the 2017 US Tennis Open Championship will star on this August 28.
