Maria Sharapova to play in Aegon Classic Birmingham
Former Women's Wimbledon Champion Maria Sharapova has been named as a wild card for the Aegon Classic Birmingham.
The five-time Grand Slam champion will participate in the event for the first time in seven years, committing to play in this year's tournament as well as in 2018.
“We have received a two-year commitment from one of the most famous athletes in the world, Maria Sharapova, to play the Aegon Classic Birmingham." said LTA Chief Executive Michael Downey.
"In return we are providing Maria with a main draw wild card for this year.
"This wasn’t a decision we took lightly and we recognise not everyone will agree with it, however Maria has served her ban in full and is now back playing high quality tennis. There’s always a lot of debate about who we give wild cards to.
"Now that Maria has earned direct entry into Wimbledon qualifying, we want to give British tennis fans the chance to see her compete on grass here in Britain beforehand.
"She will face a star studded line up that includes eight of the world’s Top 10, headlined by British No.1 Johanna Konta and world No.1 Angelique Kerber."
The remaining Main Draw wild card announcements for Birmingham and our other events will be announced in the coming weeks.
Also, there will be 12 further wildcards for the qualifying events which will be confirmed ahead of the tournament, with these likely to be offered to eligible British players.
“I am really excited to be coming back to Birmingham this year to play on the grass as part of my build up to Wimbledon and I thank the LTA for this opportunity." Said the former World number one, Sharapova.
"I have some great memories of playing there over the years, including winning the title on two previous occasions.
"I am looking forward to seeing all the recent improvements the tournament has made to establish itself as one of the best grass court events in the world.”
Tennis fans are now able to snap up tickets for all of the grass court events across the country, that form the traditional warm up before The Championships, Wimbledon. Tickets are available from www.lta.org.uk/2017tickets.
