Maria Sharapova will not pursue Wimbledon wildcard after opting for qualification route

Maria Sharapova will not request a wildcard for the main draw of Wimbledon and will instead begin her campaign at SW19 through qualifying.

Sharapova's attempts to secure a wildcard for this month's French Open were rejected by the French Tennis Federation this week. The 30-year-old Russian has failed to amass enough ranking points to gain direct entry at Roland Garros with the competition's governing body ruling: "There can be a wildcard from injury but there cannot be a wildcard from doping."

Rather than face a similar fate at Wimbledon, Sharapova will now attempt to get through three rounds of qualifying to book a place in the 128-person main draw in July.

Sharapova returned from a 15-month doping ban in April. "Because of my improved ranking after the first three tournaments of my return, I will also be playing the qualifying of Wimbledon in Roehampton, and will not be requesting a wildcard," she wrote on her website.

Her current ranking of 211 means the former world no. 1 is currently outside the cut-off point for automatic qualification. Progressing beyond the semi-finals of the Italian Open this week would have seen her climb high enough to grab a place, but a thigh injury forced her to withdraw from her second round match against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. She had however climbed the rankings high enough to ensure a spot in the qualifiers. The Roehampton qualifiers have traditionally been free to spectators but this year the All England Club are charging for tickets for the first time, £5 for adults.

The Russian will also have the benefit of some grass-court play in the lead-up to the Wimbledon qualifiers, as the LTA granted her a wildcard for the Edgbaston tournament.

On the subject of her injury, Sharapova wrote: "I have already started getting treatment on the injury I sustained a few days ago in Rome, and will begin my preparation as soon I get better."