Maria Sharapova denied French Open wild card

Scott Clarke / ESPN Images(PARIS) — Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova has been denied a wildcard to play at next month’s French Open.

French Tennis Federation chief Bernard Giudicelli Ferrandini said Tuesday a wildcard is distributed for cases such as a return from injury but “there cannot be a wildcard for the return from doping,” according to BBC.

The tennis official said it was “my responsibility, my mission, to protect the high standards of the game played without any doubt on the result.”

Sharapova, 30, is a two-time French Open winner who recently returned from her suspension for testing positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open. She was originally suspended by the International Tennis Federation for two years, but had the sentence reduced to 15 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

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