THE LOW DOWN: Shady WTA Tour tries to muscle Sharapova, Russian pleads for help

I had no idea the WTA Tour was like something out of The Sopranos or in this case the Russian mob.

Maria "Shriek"apova has lifted the veil on some of the startlingly shady policies by the WTA Tour, and how the Tour is trying to muscle the Russian into paying their mortgage. But the always savvy Maria issued statements on her website and, in an unsual move, asked her fans to give her advice on her forum:

As many of you know, the WTA tour makes many players enter tournaments that they know the players will not be playing. I informed the WTA several months ago that if I played Charleston, I would have to pull out of Berlin. Now they are forcing me to give an injury for the reason why I am pulling out or they will give me an additional fine on top of the 125,000 fine already given to me. I am a very giving person, but I refuse to give anymore of my money to the WTA tour. So I want everyone to know that besides getting sick the past few days, I am healthy and I am looking forward to playing Rome. The good news is that the new road map for next year should solve all these problems. I want all my fans to know that the WTA Tour is forcing me and several of the other top players to do a 4 hour commercial shoot for WTA Tour marketing materials. They want me to do this shoot on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday of the Rome tournament after flying 12 hours from LA. I have set my own personal rules when it comes to doing shoots and I never do shoots before tournaments because they are mentally draining and I want to just focus on my tennis. Now the WTA is telling me if I don't do this shoot they will fine me over $300,000. As you can see the WTA Tour loves to fine players. To be honest, I would love to do this and help promote the tour as much as possible, but to force me to do this shoot the day before a tier 1 tournament is just not right. I am interested in what my fans think I should do?

1) Should I just do the shoot?

2) Should I NOT do the shoot and take the fine?

3) Should I NOT do the shoot and take legal action against the WTA?

4) Should I contact the other top players and try to boycott the shoot?

5) Other To voice your opinion go to the forum by clicking here.

Wow! I'd hate to run into the WTA Tour administrators in a dark alley - very scary. What's also very scary? Asking your fans what to do with your money.

*VIA DOWNTHELINETENNIS.COM

(image via Getty)