WTA CEO Steve Simon said that the rules on wildcards handed to players who have been suspended "could be reviewed in the wake of Maria Sharapova's return from a doping ban," according to the BBC. Simon added that it would be unfair to "wipe out a career's worth of work" by changing the rules. Sharapova has been "given wildcards" to April's Stuttgart Open and May's tournaments in Madrid and Rome. That move has been "criticised by current players." Simon: "Every rule gets looked at and reviewed, and I'm sure this may be one of them. If the members wish us to look at the rule, we will, that's how our system works" (BBC, 3/16). In London, Stuart Fraser reported the Lawn Tennis Association insisted that no wild card offers have been made" to Sharapova after her agent claimed that every WTA tournament "had contacted him." The LTA said, "We have not made any offer formally or proactively, to any player with regard to our summer events" (London TIMES, 3/16). REUTERS' Frank Pingue reported former tennis player Chris Evert has "no issue" with tournaments handing Sharapova wildcard entries as she makes her way back from a doping ban. Evert was the "latest to weigh into" the debate. Evert said, "You can't blame the tournaments really for wanting to be successful and wanting to enhance their tournament by having a big draw like Maria Sharapova. ... She is doing everything within the rules and she (will have) fulfilled her obligation of 15 months so I am not critical of that decision that the tournament made whatsoever" (REUTERS, 3/15).
