article: The 29-year-old has been offered wildcards into the WTA tournaments in Stuttgart, Madrid and Rome. She will need another if she is to play at Roland Garros, and unless she makes a flying start when her career resumes, her presence at Wimbledon will be in the hands of the All England Club. The reputation of the Grand Slams is linked intrinsically to the integrity of the sport. Will they take the view that once a ban is served, a decorated former champion like Sharapova should be entitled to unlimited invitations to the world's best events? Or will they share the view of Andy Murray and Caroline Wozniacki that, after a doping ban, players should not be offered shortcuts into tournaments? A former Grand Slam champion is currently free to accept as many wildcards as they wish, but that is a rule which is likely to be reviewed, according to the WTA's chief executive. Steve Simon has also said - in an interview for BBC Sport in Los Angeles - that he is not personally in favour of changing the rule, as a doping ban "should not wipe out a career's worth of work". Murray believes that ideally a player should be made to work their way back after a ban by accumulating ranking points in smaller tournaments. Wozniacki was even more direct with her language when she addressed the subject here in Indian Wells. "When someone has been banned for drugs and something that is performance enhancing, I think that you deserve a second chance like everybody else. People make mistakes, but I think you should fight your way back from the bottom," the former world number one Wozniacki said. Other players, like Venus Williams and Simona Halep, believe Sharapova is deserving of wildcards, but it may be that a Grand Slam champion who serves a doping ban loses the right to unlimited wildcards in the future. "Every rule gets looked at and reviewed, and I'm sure this may be one of them," WTA chief executive Simon told me. "If the members wish us to look at the rule, we will - that's how our system works. "My personal opinion is that it shouldn't be adjusted unless we decide to not provide it at all and change the entire wildcard rule. I think the suspension is in place to deal with an action that occurred - I don't think it should wipe out a career's worth of work, and in essence that's what people are saying. "Maria has served a 15 month suspension, has had no income, has lost all of her ranking as well as her Australian Open winnings from 2016 - so she's served a significant penalty for her actions." Media playback is not supported on this device Sharapova will make her return in Stuttgart on Wednesday 26 April, which is the very day her ban expires and two days after the tournament begins. This has upset Angelique Kerber, the German who has won the title for the past two years and will return to the top of the world
summary: Maria Sharapova will return from her doping ban in Stuttgart in six weeks time, but her participation at the French Open and Wimbledon remains in significant doubt.