French Open declines to hand Maria Sharapova a wild card

Maria Sharapova has not been handed a wild card into this year's French Open, tournament organisers have announced on Facebook.

The 30-year-old former world number one has competed at three events since returning to competitive tennis following her 15-month doping suspension.

Sharapova tested positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open and her original two-year ban was reduced on appeal.

However, the Russian was not able to acquire enough ranking points to secure an automatic place in qualifying for Roland Garros.

French Tennis Federation president Bernard Giudicelli confirmed on Tuesday evening there would be no invitation for the two-time champion when announcing the wildcards for the 2017 tournament during a live Facebook broadcast.