Maria Sharapova responds to French Open snub, vows to 'rise up'
What’s the Story?
After she was rejected for even a qualifying wildcard at the French Open, former World No. 1 Maria Sharapova has reacted, albeit subtly, against the organizers, taking to her Twitter to post a message soon after the rejection.
The 5-time Grand Slam winner vowed to “rise again” after the snub, saying she had “many dreams” and that nothing could stop them.
In Case You Didn’t Know …
Sharapova has only recently returned to tennis after a 15-month ban from the sport for the use of meldonium, which last year was classified as a performance-enhancing drug by WADA, but one that the Russian has been taking for over a decade.
Organizers at the French Open, which is due to commence later this month, had waited to announce a decision on awarding Sharapova a wildcard. The athlete, who had seen a 15-month ban from the sport for using heart drug meldonium, a subtance banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), needed a wildcard to be able to play the French Open given her ranking.
Sharapova returned to tennis with the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, progressing to the semi-finals of the tournament before an eventual loss to Kristina Mladenovic of France; she needed to progress to the finals at minimum to make up rankings.
Several had speculated Sharapova would receive a main draw wildcard, while others believed she might receive one to qualifyin instead – but organizers at Roland Garros nixed the idea entirely, meaning that she will have to make up ranking points to play in future tournaments.
Heart of the Matter
Sharapova marked her return to tennis in Stuttgart and had begun in qualifying there, staying in excellent form to progress to the semi-final, but given that she dropped off the rankings, she needed to make those up to be able to play qualifiers at the French Open on the basis of merit.
Given that did not happen, she would necessarily have needed a wildcard to play. She did, however, receive wildcards to the two biggest tournaments on the clay court swing – the Rome Masters and Madrid Masters.
A two-time champion at the French Open, Sharapova is quite strong on clay and would perhaps have brought more attention to the women’s game at Roland Garros this season, with publicity perhaps especially short considering former World No.1 Serena Williams is currently on leave as she prepares to give birth to her first child.
But several key members of the tennis fraternity spoke out against tennis associations’ free handing of wild cards to players who had returned from drug bans, with Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Eugenie Bouchard among players who made their displeasure openly known.
French Open organizers were heavily scrutinized, with its own President, even a month ago, unsure of giving the Russian ace a wildcard as it appeared to condone doping in sport. In light of that, it appears, she was not given a wildcard.
Author’s Take
This of course depends on what side of the fence you are on with the Sharapova issue, but some have said that she has already served out her meldonium ban and “done her time,” so to speak. But yet others have said giving her a wildcard would be, like Tsonga put it, “giving candy to a baby that has made a mistake.”
One might agree with Tsonga – as I do, and given Sharapova’s undeniable talent and hard work, the Russian could wait to make her way up the rankings once more – something she can doubtless do. She can then play at Grand Slams – qualifiers or main draw – on the basis of her own merit entirely, leaving no room for speculation about organization or players, with no doubt as to whether or not she ‘deserves’ to be there.
There are no doubt numerous talented players waiting to take the limelight at Roland Garros. But the women’s edition at the tournament will perhaps suffer on publicity and viewership, especially so given former World No. 1 Serena Williams is on maternity leave, waiting to welcome her first child. The presence of Sharapova at the tournament could perhaps have brought viewers in.
That said, younger WTA talents can now have the limelight here – and that can only be a good thing.
What’s Next?
Sharapova has been playing in great form since her return, and received wildcards to both the Madrid and Rome Masters. However, the Russian was forced to retire from her Internazionali BNL d’Italia match against Mirjana Lucic Baroni with injury.
She has however received a wildcard to the grass-court Aegon Classic already, so that is probably when viewers will see her take the court next.