|
 The Briton also chided his own racket manufacturer Head after the
company said it would continue to support Sharapova in the wake of
her admission that she had taken the banned substance.
"It's not up to me to decide the punishment, but if you're taking
performance enhancing drugs and you fail a drugs test, you have to
get suspended," Murray told reporters at the Indian Wells tournament
in Palm Springs on Thursday.
"If you're taking a prescription drug and you're not using it for
what that drug was meant for, then you don't need it, so you're just
using it for the performance enhancing benefits that drug is giving
you. And I don't think that that's right."
The drug, produced in Latvia but unavailable for purchase in the
United States where Sharapova is based, was only added to the World
Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list of banned substances in January,
shortly before her positive test at the Australian Open.
Manufactured for people suffering from heart problems, it can also
increase blood flow and improve exercise capacity.
Sharapova, who will be provisionally suspended by the International
Tennis Federation from this weekend and faces up to a four-year ban,
told a news conference in Los Angeles on Monday that she had been
taking the drug for 10 years.
She said she was first given it by a family doctor after she
frequently became sick, had irregular electrocardiogram results, a
magnesium deficiency and a family history of diabetes.
"I read that 55 athletes have failed tests for that substance since
January 1," said Murray.
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"You just don't expect high-level athletes at the top of many
different sports to have heart conditions."
The highest-paid woman in sports, Sharapova has already lost support
from some sponsors, with Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer cutting ties
this week, while Nike and Porsche have distanced themselves from
her.
Murray said Head's announcement that it had extended its contract
with the five-times grand slam champion was "a strange stance" given
the events of the last few days.
"I don't really know what else to say on that, but that's not
something I believe," he added.
"I think at this stage it's important really to get hold of the
facts and let things play out, like more information coming out
before making a decision to extend the contract like that, in my
view. I personally wouldn't have responded like that."
(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; Editing by Ian
Ransom)
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