In the wake of the French Tennis Federation’s decision on Tuesday not to give Maria Sharapova a wild card into the French Open, a debate arose within the sport about whether denying Sharapova was also further penalizing her.
Steve Simon, the chief executive of the Women’s Tennis Association, maintains that the federation went too far.
“They have an opinion, and they expressed it, and I don’t happen to agree with that opinion,” Simon said of the federation and its president, Bernard Giudicelli, in a telephone interview. “I’m sure their position is because of what she was suspended for, they don’t feel she should be getting any special help, and by the way that they’ve expressed it, to me what they’ve done, in essence, is increase her penalty.