Maria Sharapova has been counting down the days until she can get back on the tennis court ever since her suspension from the sport was announced in June of last year.

In fact, the five-time Grand Slam champion would have already been planning for a period in exile when she announced herself that she had failed a drugs test at the 2016 Australian Open at a dramatic press conference in Los Angeles in March.

Comeback time for Sharapova will arrive at the Porsche Grand Prix – a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) event which the 30-year-old has been granted a wildcard for – next week, but few of her peers will be celebrating and will hardly welcome her with open arms.

It is well known that the Russian star is not exactly flavour of the week in the women’s dressing room. She never has been.

This is partly her own doing as she has admitted she goes into her “own zone” when preparing for a match and has often come across as rude and insolent to her fellow professionals.

Unsurprisingly, her imminent return has divided opinion, particularly when it comes to the contentious issue of wildcards for international tournaments and Grand Slams. Poland’s Agnieszka Radwańska, a former world number two, became the latest player to add to the growing chorus of dissent towards the possibility of the Russian being given exemptions for the French Open and Wimbledon.

“Now in Germany, next in Spain, but so far she hasn't been invited to play at Slams in Paris and London and in my opinion that's how it should remain,” she told Polish newspaper Przeglad Sportowy.

“She should win her place thanks to good results.

“This kind of entry into the tournament should be available only for players who were dropped in the ranking due to injury, illness or other random accident.

"Not for those suspended for doping. Maria should rebuild her career in a different way, beginning with smaller events.

"She wouldn't have a chance for (a wildcard) from my hands (if I was a tournament director)."

Radwanska is not alone in her view. Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki seemed to ignite the fire of opposition from within the WTA Tour when she slammed the decision to hand Sharapova a wildcard for the competition in Stuttgart as “disrespectful”.

Germany’s Angelique Kerber, the world number one, may not have been explicit as some of her counterparts, but her comments that Sharapova being able to play in a tournament the day her ban ends was “a little bit strange” leave little doubt as to which side of the fence she sits on.

Such opinions are understandable. After all, the task of qualifying for high-level events is arduous and gruelling for the vast majority of competitors on the tour and to see the red carpet laid out for someone returning from a doping suspension must leave a bitter taste in the mouth.

Derision and castigation towards Sharapova is only likely to continue if her team, who share more than a slice of the blame for the now infamous failed test for contentious substance meldonium, continue with their current rhetoric.

Max Eisenbud, Sharapova's agent, broke his silence and hit out at the likes of Radwanska and Wozniacki in a statement last night, where he labelled the two players “journeymen” and suggested they were airing concerns about the Russian’s return because they fear it will harm their own chances of success, driving a further wedge between his client and the rest of the women’s locker room.

“All those 'journeyman' players like Radwanska and Wozniacki who have never won a slam and the next generation passing them. They are smart to try to keep Maria out of Paris," Eisenbud said.

“No Serena. No Maria. No Vika. No Petra. It's their last chance to win a Slam.”

The quotes tell their own story and perfectly align with the defiance which has emanated from the Russian's camp during large parts of her period away from the game. As she hones her preparations for her first competitive match since the Australian Open last year, she still found time to criticise the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for not doing more to inform her that meldonium had been added to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.

The whole fanfare concerning Sharapova – from the “Sugarpova” sweets brand to playing in exhibition tournaments with music legends – coupled with her going on the offensive has ensured the spotlight has never been far away from her despite the ban.

It appears she still harbours a certain degree of frustration towards the ITF, who initially called for her to be banned for two years before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reduced her sentence by nine months in October.

In fairness to the Russian, the CAS ruling said Sharapova was “not an athlete who cheated” and could not be considered an “intentional doper”, and some might feel this entitles her to more leeway compared with other top athletes who have served drugs bans.

A prominent belief is that dopers should be given the opportunity to rebuild their careers once they have served a suspension - similar to criminals being able to start a new life once they emerge from the prison gates – and this could be applied to Sharapova. She has done her time.

At 30, she is hardly a spring chicken, but a personal view is that her comeback as a whole should not be criticised too heavily. It is the dishing out of wildcards which rankles. Additionally, rightly or wrongly, fairly or unfairly, her career will now forever be blemished and tainted by doping. It is something she will simply have to live with.

On the other hand, the nonchalance exuded by Sharapova and her support staff surrounding the whole meldonium affair beggars belief. In a recent interview with The Times magazine, she admitted she had been “complacent” and that “ultimately the fault is mine”.

With her return days away, Sharapova's agent Max Eisenbud decided to break his silence after these comments from Radwanska. Here he goes: pic.twitter.com/WXUVxooeK5

— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) April 21, 2017

We have seen another example of how costly complacency can be earlier this week with the news that Olympic 100 metres hurdles champion Brianna Rollins of the United States had been banned for a year for missing three out-of-competition drugs tests. 

Surely it is not that difficult to keep your whereabouts information up-to-date.

Similarly, surely it is not that difficult to keep abreast of what substances you can and cannot take? Admittedly, WADA clearly dealt poorly with the whole meldonium saga – they have conceded this fact both privately and publicly - but their guidelines, however confusing, must be easier to follow when you possess the resources at Sharapova’s disposal. 

Quite frankly she should have known better.

It is staggering how common complacency is within the world of sport when it comes to doping and it is for this reason that she deserves little sympathy and should not be painted as a victim.

The reception she receives still remains to be seen. We will find out exactly what the world thinks when she makes her first appearance on court in Stuttgart.