Sharapova can play again in April after ban reduced
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[October 05, 2016]
By Alan Baldwin
(Reuters) - Maria Sharapova is counting
the days until she can return to action having been cleared to play
again next April after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
reduced the former world number one's two-year drugs ban by nine
months on Tuesday.
The 29-year-old Sharapova, who can return from April 26 and will be
able to play in three of the year's four grand slams, said she could
not wait to get back on court.
The Russian, whose case polarized opinion and lost her sponsorship,
was handed the original ban - backdated to start on Jan. 26, 2016 -
by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) following a positive
test for the drug meldonium.
Meldonium was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list of
banned substances at the start of the year after mounting evidence
that it boosted blood flow and enhanced athletic performance.
The arbitration panel reduced the ban to 15 months and found that
she "bore some degree of fault" through relying on her agent Max
Eisenbud to check the prohibited list for changes and failing to
ensure he had done so.
In a statement hailing one of the happiest days of her career, and
criticizing the ITF at the same time, Sharapova said she had learned
a lesson and hoped the authorities had too.
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"In so many ways, I feel like something I love was taken away from
me and it will feel really good to have it back," the five-times
grand slam champion wrote on her Facebook page.
"Tennis is my passion and I have missed it. I am counting the days
until I can return to the court."
Sharapova, who earned $29.7 million last year as the world's highest
paid female athlete, had called the ITF's original ruling "unfairly
harsh" as an independent tribunal had found that she had not
intentionally violated anti-doping rules.
The player admitted taking meldonium during the season's opening
grand slam in Melbourne but said she had been unaware that it had
been banned by WADA.
'UNDER THE BUS'
"I have learned from this, and I hope the ITF has as well," said
Sharapova, adding that she had always taken responsibility for not
knowing the over-the-counter supplement she had taken for 10 years
was no longer allowed.
She said other federations had been much better at notifying their
athletes of the rule change, especially in Eastern Europe where
meldonium, or mildronate, was taken by millions of people.
"Now that this process is over, I hope the ITF and other relevant
tennis anti-doping authorities will study what these other
Federations did, so that no other tennis player will have to go
through what I went through," she added.
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![](../images/100516pics/sports37.jpg)
Maria Sharapova arrives for a press conference announcing a failed
drug test after the Australian Open during a press conference today
at The LA Hotel Downtown. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA
TODAY Sports
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American Pam Shriver, a former grand slam doubles champion, said on
Twitter that Sharapova's statement "throws the ITF under the bus".
The ITF, the sport's world governing body, said in a statement that
it believed the appropriate steps were taken to publicize changes to
the banned list.
"Nonetheless, we have reviewed, and will continue to review, our
processes for communicating changes to the Prohibited List to
players with the aim of ensuring that no player can claim that they
had not been fully informed," the statement added.
Steve Simon, chief executive of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA)
said: "The TADP (tennis anti-doping program) has a comprehensive and
fair process in place and we support the final result.
"We are pleased that the process is now at completion and we can
look forward to seeing Maria back on court in 2017."
Shamil Tarpishev, president of the Russian tennis federation,
welcomed the reduction in the length of the ban.
"It's good, they reduced the ban," he told Russia's TASS news
agency. "We want her to play for the national team and win the next
Olympics for us."
Sharapova's sponsors Head, who stuck with the Russian when others
either terminated or suspended their agreements, said justice had
been served and that it was "wholly unfair" that the suspension had
been imposed in the first place.
(Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ed Osmond)
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