Tennis star Maria Sharapova failed a drug test at this year’s Australian Open, she announced at a news conference in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon.
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Although she has been suspended, Sharapova said she is not retiring, unlike what numerous fans thought.
Before the press conference started, plenty of outlets speculated Sharapova would announce her retirement, but the tennis star said she hopes to get another chance to play in the future.
WADA has said it will not comment on the case until the ITF makes its decision clear.
That victory also made her the third-youngest Wimbledon champion, behind only Lottie Dod and Hingis, and the fourth-youngest grand slam victor in the open era after Hingis, Monica Seles and Tracy Austin.
She has 35 WTA singles titles and more than $36 million in career earnings, and is now ranked seventh in the world.
Meldonium (also known as Mildronate, THP, MET-88, Mildronāts or Quaterine) is a clinically used anti-ischemic drug that is now manufactured and marketed by Grindeks, a pharmaceutical company based in Latvia.
According to Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP) on January 26, 2016, Sharapova provided an anti-doping sample to the TADP in association with her participation in the 2016 Australian Open. Track and field’s global governing body, the IAAF, confirmed that Abeba Aregawi, the 2013 world champion in the women’s 1500 meters, had failed an out-of- competition drug test, which Swedish media indicated last week was for meldonium. She added that a diabetes history also runs in the family.
Sharapova’s defence, set out in LA, is that she is the victim of a devastating clerical error on her part.
The former world number one from Russia said a change in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list for 2016 led to an inadvertent violation, for which she will be “provisionally suspended” by the International Tennis Federation.
“I came from having to cut my T-shirts because there was not a junior line at the time and rolling up my skirts to now being able to design my on-court looks for Nike”, Sharapova said.
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Of course, only Sharapova and her closest associates know if she is telling the truth, but her integrity throughout her career, and her willingness to face this bombshell head-on should earn her the benefit of the doubt. Last week, she pulled out of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, saying she was “extremely disappointed” but needed to continue healing a left forearm injury. “At the end of the day everything you do is about you”.
