Maria Sharapova has received another wildcard on her comeback from doping suspension, this time for the Rogers Cup in Toronto. The Russian will play in the hard court tournament in August, the organisers announced on Tuesday.
Sharapova returned to tennis in April after serving a 15-month suspension when she tested positive for meldonium at last year’s Australian Open. Since she didn’t have enough ranking points to play in the more prominent tournaments, the Russian banked on wildcards for her initial few appearances, a move that divided her peers.
“I’m really looking forward to coming back to Canada. This is one of the biggest events of the year and I hope to play my best tennis that week,” Sharapova told reporters.
She reached the semi-finals of her first event on return at Stuttgart and got three more wildcards to play in WTA events. Next month will see the 2004 Wimbledon champion Sharapova, 30, play the Birmingham event for the first time in seven years, a precursor to the grass court season.
The former champion has already been denied a wild card for the French Open and has said that she will not apply for one at Wimbledon, choosing to slug it out in the qualifiers instead. She is currently ranked 173rd and if she makes the main draw on her own, the wild card will go to another player.