Monday 13 March 2017 14:32, UK
Maria Sharapova should be forced to play her way back into tournaments, believes Danish star Caroline Wozniacki.
Former world No.1 Sharavpova is due to return from a 15-month drugs ban without a ranking at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart next month.
The five-time Grand Slam winner's suspension for testing positive for meldonium ends on April 26, two days after the start of the tournament in Germany.
However, three-times winner Sharapova, whose main sponsor is Porsche, has been handed a wild card to the tournament and will play her first match on the day the ban finishes.
"I think it's very questionable, allowing - no matter who it is - a player that is still banned to play a tournament that week," said Wozniacki.
"I think it's disrespectful to the other players and the WTA.
"But, you know, it is what it is. Obviously rules are twisted and turned in favour of who wants to do what."
World no.15 Wozniacki is not against Sharapova returning to the sport, but believes the 29-year-old should not be treated the same as someone who is returning from injury.
"I think everyone deserves a second chance, and I think that she's going to come back and she's going to fight her way back," she said.
"I'm sure she's going to play well. But at the same time, I feel like when a player is banned for drugs, I think that someone should start from the bottom and fight their way back, because it's different from an injury where someone is out because they had hurt themselves.
"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."
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