According to report from BBC Sport, when the president of the Russian Tennis Federation was asked if the five-time Grand Slam victor would play another tournament, he answered the R-Sport news agency that Sharapova’s return was “very doubtful”, adding that she was in a “bad situation”.
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Sharapova tested positive for meldonium at the Australian Open in January and has been provisionally suspended since March.
The drug however was added to World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) list of banned substance only in January 1, 2016 and Sharapova is pleading her case claiming she was not made aware of the change.
“I think this is just a load of nonsense”, Tarpishchev told the Tass news agency in March.
The International Tennis Federation panel could issue a four-year-ban – but experts say a six to 12 month punishment is more likely.
The 29-year-old had been taking the substance legally for years and carried on despite the fact it was placed on the banned substance list at the start of the year.
The meldonium concentration in the blood sample of Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova exceeds the permissible level, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said in an interview aired by Match TV, a Russian public sports channel, on April 27. The thing is that she admitted that she had taken meldonium.
Belarus’ doubles specialist Sergey Betov, who also tested positive at the Australian Open, was cleared by the ITF on those grounds last month.
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Sharapova is expected to argue that the health reasons she cited for taking the drug should qualify her for a backdated therapeutic use exemption (TUE).
