Former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova tested positive
for Meldonium after competing in Australian Open
Meldonium was a medicine the Russian ace took for 10 years
but it became a prohibited substance on January 1
She received letter on December 22 from WADA informing her
of changes and she admits she didn't look at the list
It was added because WADA said there 'evidence of its use by
athletes with the intention of enhancing performance'
Sharapova said she was taking the medicine for 'health
issues' including a family history of diabetes
Maria Sharapova dropped a huge bombshell onto world tennis
last night when she admitted she had tested positive for a banned substance at
January's Australian Open.
Applying her legendary calm and determination, the
five-times Grand Slam champion made a personal statement at a Los Angeles hotel
confessing she had been caught out by tennis's anti-doping operation.
The highest earning athlete in any female sport said that
she had been found to have taken Mildronate or Meldonium – which was
prohibited from January 1 this year.
'It is very important for you to understand that for 10
years this medicine was not on WADA's banned list and I had legally been taking
the medicine for the past 10 years,' insisted the Russian.
'But on January 1st the rules had changed and meldonium
became a prohibited substance which I had not known.'
Sharapova claimed that she was initially given it in 2006 by
her 'family doctor' due to health issues such as a magnesium deficiency and a
genetic disposition towards diabetes.
However, the drug which is mainly available in Eastern
Europe is said to have become a drug of choice for Russian athletes implicated
of cheating in other sports.
This may be the end for Sharapova, who won all four Grand
Slams and transcended her own sport without ever becoming the dominant player
of her era.
However, there was one set of rankings where she has
consistently came out on top: those produced by the likes of Forbes magazine
that measure the overall earnings of female sports stars.
The combination of her glamorous looks, strong personality
and natural business acumen, married up with a huge tennis talent helped make
her a massive success as much off the court as on it. Those days now look over.
Sharapova's official career prize money stands not far short
of £25 million. But her personal fortune is many times that, thanks to her
voracious appetite for maximising her worth.
Part of that has been the carefully nurturing of her public
image, not unlike fellow super earner of the men's game, Roger Federer.
In recent years she has become most synonymous with her
candy line Sugarpova, shamelessly ignoring the health lobby to very
successfully promote a high-end brand pf sweets.
She once even discussed trying to enter the US Open under
the assumed pseudonym of Sugarpova as part of a somewhat dubious marketing
exercise.
None of her fortune, estimated to be north of £100 million,
would have been possible without the endeavours on the court, which took root
when she moved from Russia to the Nick Bollettieri, now IMG, Academy in
Florida, aged nine.
That involved a two year separation from her mother, so it
was hardly surprising that she developed a phenomenally tough persona that was
to serve her so well.
She rose to international prominence at seventeen when she
upset Serena Williams to unexpectedly win the 2004 Wimbledon title, and one of
the mysteries of her career was that she never got past the semi-finals
thereafter.
Sharapova was to beat the American again that summer, in her
now hometown of Los Angeles where tonight's announcement was made – and she has
never beaten her since.
The utter dominance Williams has exercised over her in
compiling a 19-2 record has come close to defining the Russian's career, and
denied the women's game the authentic rivalry it has craved in recent years.
One reason Serena is said to play so well against her,
according to one close to the American, is a resentment that those with
endorsement dollars in their pocket have always beat a far more determined path
to the tall European blonde.
It has helped focus the mind, as has a strong mutual dislike
of each other, which was fuelled in part by being attracted to the same man,
ATP Tour heart throb Grigor Dimitrov. Sharapova was to win that one at least.
Williams has been far from alone in disliking the statuesque
Russian, and many fans have found it hard to take to her because of her
incessant grunt-cum-wail when hitting the ball.
She could be torturously slow between points and there was
also the practice of turning her back on her opponent between every point to
focus on the next one.
That was probably nothing personal, just the tic of an
utterly determined player and superb competitor.
Sharapova was a steady winner after the unlikely triumph at
SW19, claiming the US Open two years later and the Australian Open in 2008.
She has won 35 tour titles in all, interspersed by absences
through injury.
Tall and not a silky mover, her biggest career achievement
was probably to twice win the French Open, the Major that seemed most likely to
elude her.
She mastered the art of moving on the clay sufficiently to take the
title in 2012 and 2014, despite having once described her navigation of the red
dirt as being like a 'cow on ice'.
These kind of one-liners flow easily from Sharapova, who is
often charming and funny, as well as being the owner of a sharp tongue.
The 'Ice queen' was, for example, asked at the 2012
Australian Open to respond to criticism of her grunting by vanquished opponent
Agnieazka Radwanska, and replied with exquisite timing 'Isn't she back in
Poland already?.
Sharapova has never sought to be part of any locker room
sisterhood, describing it as a lonely place. 'I think just because you're in
the same sport it doesn't mean that you have to be friends with everyone,' she
once said.
However, she is not without heart, has given plenty to
charity and always inspired loyalty among the tight team around her. Either she
has let them down, or they are culpable for not spotting this – and that is the
most innocent explanation.
Whichever way, something has gone very seriously wrong for
the fallen superstar.
No comments:
Post a Comment