Tennis former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova has filed an appeal over her two-year doping ban to the sports' highest court on Tuesday and an expedited ruling will be handed down in July ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam champion, made her legal move by lodging an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), requesting to reverse or shorten the suspension enforced by the the International Tennis Federation (ITF) last week.

The 29-year-old tennis superstar tested positive for meldonium at January's Australian Open. Meldonium was added to the list of banned substances at the start of 2016.

"Meldonium" also known as mildronate was regularly given to the Soviet armed forces in the 1980's to heighten their stamina while fighting in Afghanistan. It is an anti-ischemic drug that is used to treat heart conditions in Eastern Europe and ex-Soviet countries.

The medicament is a blood flow-promoting drug that is also used to treat diabetes and low magnesium. It was added to the prohibited list this year because it was found out that the drug aids oxygen uptake and endurance.

In early March, the ITF provisionally suspended Sharapova, a 2012 London Olympics silver-medalist. On June 7, it was announced that the famous tennis player will be suspended for a period of two years.

"Maria looks forward to CAS hearing her appeal and hopes she'll be able to play again," said Sharapova's lawyer, John Haggerty. "The ITF tribunal concluded she had no intent to do anything wrong, and she thinks a two-year suspension is unfairly harsh."

The ban is due to end on the 25 of January 2018, a time frame that would keep the tennis superstar out of eight major tournaments, along with the upcoming Rio Olympics this August.

Sharapova has 35 career singles titles under her belt and reportedly has career earnings in excess of $36 million.

TagsMaria Sharapova, wta, ITF, WADA, CAS, Rio Olympics 2016, Maria Sharapova doping ban, Maria Sharapova doping, Maria Sharapova banned