Andy Murray and Maria Sharapova were IPTL teammates, but the world No. 1 does not support Sharapova—or other players returning from doping bans—receiving wild cards.
Murray recognizes tournaments will award wild cards to star players to boost ticket sales, but does not believe Sharapova deserves a wild card following her 15-month doping ban after testing positive for the banned substance meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open.
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"I think you should really have to work your way back," Murray told The Times in comments published by BBC Sport. "But most tournaments will do what they think is best for their event. If they think big names will sell more seats, they're going to do that."
Five-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova is set to return to tournament tennis next month in Stuttgart, a tournament whose title sponsor, Porsche, also sponsors Sharapova.
The former world No. 1 has accepted wild cards into Stuttgart, Madrid and Rome. There is speculation Wimbledon will award the 2004 Wimbledon champion a wild card as well.
Reigning Wimbledon champion Murray said he believes tournament officials will "think long and hard" before awarding the Russian a wild card for the grass-court Grand Slam.
"She has an opportunity to try to improve her ranking up until that point and potentially not need a wildcard," Murray told The Times. "But then if she doesn't, that becomes Wimbledon's decision and how they want to play that. I'm sure they'll think long and hard about it and how they feel people will view it and then make the right decision for them."
Sharapova says oversight triggered her positive test for the banned substance meldonium at the Australian Open—she did not realize the drug had been added to the Prohibited List.
Murray has said ignorance isn't a valid excuse.
"To be honest, I don't really see that as being a valid excuse," Murray said of Sharapova's case last summer. "If you're taking any medication, it's your responsibility as the athlete to check and make sure that what you're taking is legal.
"Obviously there can be the odd case where if you were given something by a doctor, he tells you, oh, this is, I don't know, this is a vitamin and it's not, it's something completely different, then that's different. But if you're taking medication, you know, there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't know whether it's on the banned list or not."
Photo credit: IPTL