Sharapova expected to receive wild card into French Open qualifying

Maria Sharapova is likely to get a wild card into French Open qualifying, not the main draw, according to *The Daily Telegraph*.

Bernard Giudicelli, the new president of the French Tennis Federation (FFT), had indicated that his organization was unsure about whether to provide the Russian with entry into the tournament as she returns from an anti-doping suspension.

He described the decision in a social-media interview as "complicated," adding that the organization puts a million-and-a-half euros into anti-doping.

Offering Sharapova a qualifying wild card could be seen as a compromise, allowing the five-time Grand Slam champion back into competition while upholding the FFT's anti-doping stand.

Sharapova tested positive for meldonium, a heart and blood-boosting drug, at the 2016 Australian Open. She said she had taken it for many years for medical reasons and did not know it had been banned.

She returns to the tour unranked following a reduced 15-month suspension from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), and will require a wild card to play the clay-court Grand Slam because she was unranked when entries for the tournament were decided six weeks before the event.

Sharapova received a wild card for this week's event in Stuttgart, where she will be making her 2017 debut, as well as wild cards into Madrid and Rome. Some top players—including Angelique Kerber, Agnieszka Radwanska and Caroline Wozniacki—have expressed opposition to Sharapova being handed entry into tournaments following an anti-doping suspension. A few players—Venus Williams, Simona Halep and Elina Svitolina among them—have said they are not against it.

The French Tennis Federation has not officially announced any tournament wild cards.