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Eugenie Bouchard blasts 'cheater' Maria Sharapova, says she shouldn't be allowed to play

Maria Sharapova won her first-round match at the Porsche Grand Prix. (AP)
Maria Sharapova won her first-round match at the Porsche Grand Prix. (AP)

Maria Sharapova made her return to the tennis court on Wednesday following a 15-month doping suspension, and one of the game’s most prominent players has already blasted her comeback.

Sharapova won her first match since her reinstatement, beating Roberta Vinci, 7-5, 6-3, at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany.

Eugenie Bouchard took issue with the former world No. 1 being awarded wild card slots to tournaments such as Stuttgart, the Madrid Open and the Rome Open.

Sharapova tested positive for the banned substance meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open, though she claimed her use of the drug was for health reasons.

“I don’t think that’s right,” Bouchard told TRT World. “She’s a cheater, and I don’t think a cheater in any sport should be allowed to play that sport again. It’s so unfair to all the other players who do it the right way, and are true.

“I think from the WTA it sends the wrong message to young kids: Cheat, and we’ll welcome you back with open arms.”

Bouchard is not the first WTA player to come out against the five-time Grand Slam winner.

“I don’t miss her on the tour at all,” Dominika Cibulkova said in April 2016. “She’s a totally unlikable person. Arrogant, conceited and cold. When I sit beside her in the locker room, she won’t even say hello.”

Earlier this week, fifth-ranked Simona Halep also criticized the decision to hand Sharapova a wild card.

“For the kids, for the young players, it is not OK to help with a wild card the player that was banned for doping,” she said. ”It is not about Maria Sharapova here, but it is about all the players that are found doped.”

Alize Cornet, currently ranked No. 41 in the world, called Sharapova’s return “shameful.”

“Generally speaking, I find it shameful that the WTA is promoting a player who tested positive after all,” Cornet said. “It’s normal that people talk about her, she’s an immense champion, but from there to promoting her return to such an extent.”

Meanwhile, former men’s world No. 1 Andy Roddick came out in support of Sharapova on Wednesday.

“I have a hard time having people trying to play judge and jury after time has been served,” he told Inside Tennis. Do I think she deserves a wild card? Sure, I think the wild card should go to the people who can generate the most interest … It should go to someone who generates the most interest, someone who can actually make a run [in the tournament] or some of the best players available to a given tournament. She fits the criteria of all of those.”

Sharapova will find out in May if she will receive a wild card to the French Open, which she won in 2012 and 2014.