Tuesday 14 June 2016 22:21, UK
Maria Sharapova will discover by July 18 whether her appeal against a two-year suspension has been successful.
The former world No 1 formally submitted an appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) on Tuesday against her ban for the use of meldonium, a substance placed on the prohibited list at the start of the year.
Sharapova returned a positive test at January's Australian Open but argued she was unaware of the drug's status change, an explanation she says was accepted by an International Tennis Federation tribunal but which has been dismissed as irrelevant by men's world No 2 Andy Murray.
The Russian wants her ban wiped out or, failing that, reduced, and a statement from CAS confirmed the case will be fast-tracked.
The statement read: "The parties have agreed to an expedited procedure which will allow the CAS to render a decision, at the latest, on July 18, 2016. The final decision will be announced and published by CAS when it is available.
"It has not been decided whether or not a hearing would be held in this matter. In any event, at the request of the parties, this arbitration procedure will be kept confidential and the CAS will not comment any further on this matter."
Murray has long been outspoken on the subject of drug tests and renewed his criticism of Sharapova after his first-round match at Queen's Club on Tuesday.
He said: "I do feel like if you're cheating or caught and gaining advantage on your opponents then you obviously have to be punished for that.
"It's not what's fair or not in terms of time. That's up for the governing bodies, the courts and the lawyers, to decide upon.
"If you're taking medication, there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't know whether it's on the banned list or not."
Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the tribunal's verdict last week, Sharapova said: "While the tribunal concluded correctly that I did not intentionally violate the anti-doping rules, I cannot accept an unfairly harsh two-year suspension.
"The tribunal, whose members were selected by the ITF, agreed that I did not do anything intentionally wrong, yet they seek to keep me from playing tennis for two years
"I will immediately appeal the suspension portion of this ruling to CAS, the Court of Arbitration for Sport."
