Oh! What a Sharapova

Shamed star vows to fight back

MARIA SHARAPOVA says she is “determined to fight back” after testing positive for meldonium.
In a Facebook post that criticised “distorted and exaggerated” reporting, the Russian denied taking meldonium every day and missing five warnings that the drug was about to be banned. She also criticised the tennis authorities for making the relevant information “too hard to find”.
Sharapova (28) will be provisionally suspended from 12 March.
The five-time Grand Slam-winner, who faces a ban of up to four years, says she has been taking the drug, which was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list on January 1, for health reasons for the past 10 years.
However, she insisted she had only taken the heart drug “in the low doses recommended”.
Taking issue with reports that a normal course of meldonium treatment lasts only four to six weeks, she added: “The story quotes the manufacturer of my medicine as saying: ‘Treatment course can be repeated twice or thrice a year. Only physicians can follow and evaluate patient’s health condition and state whether the patient should use meldonium for a longer period of time.’ That’s exactly what I did. I didn’t take the medicine every day.”
While Sharapova reiterated that she had “no excuses” for failing to be aware of the change in regulations, she criticised the way in which the information was communicated to players.
“The communications? They were buried in newsletters, websites, or handouts,” she wrote.
“In order to be aware of this ‘warning’, you had to open an email with a subject line having nothing to do with anti-doping, click on a webpage, enter a password, enter a username, hunt, click, hunt, click, hunt, click, scroll and read. I guess some in the media can call that a warning. I think most people would call it too hard to find.”
Sharapova concluded: “I have been honest and upfront. I look forward to the ITF hearing at which time they will receive my detailed medical records.” – BBC Sport.

Murray slays tennis ace

Andy Murray has refused to show support for Maria Sharapova when asked for the first time about the shamed tennis star’s failed drugs test, describing it as “strange”.
The world number two, who has played with Sharapova in exhibition tournaments, said the Russian star must “accept responsibility” for her suspension having tested positive for banned prescription drug meldonium which is used to treat heart conditions.
Sharapova (28), a five-time Grand Slam winner, revealed on Monday that she tested positive for meldonium in January.
She will be provisionally suspended from March 12.
The former world number one says she has been taking the drug, which was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list on January 1, for health reasons for the past 10 years.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live last night, Murray said: “I think since January 1 there have been 55 athletes who have failed tests for meldonium.
“I find it strange that there’s a prescription drug used for heart conditions and so many athletes competing at the top level of their sport would have that condition. That sounds a bit off to me.
“Clearly if you are taking performance-enhancing drugs and you fail a drugs test, you have to get suspended. You have to accept responsibility for that and take the suspension,” he said.
Unlike Murray, other tennis players have offered their support to Sharapova, including women’s world number one Serena Williams, who said her rival had shown “a lot of courage”.
It is estimated that the former Wimbledon champion will lose out on £100 million in future earnings as a result of her drugs shame.
Since admitting she failed a test, Sharapova, who is worth around £137 million, has been dropped by watch-maker TAG Heuer as well as Porsche and Nike – with whom she had a £50 million deal.
Head had early offered its full support to Sharapova in a seven-point statement, in contrast to other corporations who have suspended their sponsorships.
Sharapova faces a four-year ban from tennis. She insists she missed warnings about meldonium’s ban, which came into effect on January 1, and that she had been taking the substance, which usually treats a heart condition, for ten years for health reasons.
But the Latvian manufacturers say it is typically prescribed for four to six weeks.
World Anti-Doping Agency president Craig Reedie last week questioned why she would have been prescribed meldonium as an apparently healthy teenager. Murray, who has always expressed strong views on doping, condemned the principle of using something like Meldonium unless it was really needed.
“If you’re taking a prescription drug and you’re not using it for what that drug was meant for, you don’t need it, you’re just using it for the performance enhancing benefits of that drug is giving you, then that is wrong, clearly,” he said.
Head had early offered its full support to Sharapova in a seven-point statement, in contrast to other corporations who have suspended their sponsorships. – Daily Mail.