Maria Sharapova continues to be the biggest talking point among her peers, despite having returned to the tennis circuit for a couple of weeks now. Former world No 1 Martina Navratilova has, however, urged the Russian’s fellow professionals to stop focusing their attention on Sharapova and continue playing the game.

The 18-time Grand Slam champion posted a message on Twitter saying “I think it’s time for the players to lay off Maria [Sharapova]. She made a huge mistake, paid dearly for it, ‘done the time’ and now let’s play ball.”

Navratilova’s measured statement comes on the wake of Eugenie Bouchard’s aggressive stance on Sharapova’s rejoining the WTA Tour. The Canadian, who defeated Sharapova in the second round match at the Madrid Open on Monday, had earlier claimed that the five-time Grand Slam champion was a “cheater.”

In her post-match press conference, Bouchard then went on to add, “I was actually quite inspired before the (second-round) match because I had a lot of players coming up to me privately wishing me good luck, players I don’t normally speak to, getting a lot of texts from people in the tennis world that were just rooting for me. So, I wanted to do it for myself, but also all these people. I really felt support.”

While this added fuel to the already raging fire, world No 8 Simona Halep, who had also opposed the move to give Sharapova wild cards, had a different take to the controversy. “I didn’t wish good luck to Bouchard because we don’t speak, actually,” the Madrid Open defending champion said after her second round win over Roberta Vinci on Tuesday. “She’s different, I can say. I cannot judge her for being this. I cannot admire her for being this. I have nothing to say about her person.”