The 28-year-old tennis star admitted that she failed a drug test during the Australian Open earlier this year, revealing that she had been taking the banned substance for the past 10 years.
- Mar 8, 2016
AceShowbiz - Maria Sharapova has admitted that she failed a drugs test at the Australian Open in January. The former Wimbledon champion revealed that she tested positive for Meldonium, a drug that can boost an athlete's endurance.
"I wanted to let you know that, a few days ago, I received a letter from the ITF that I had failed a drug test at the Australian Open," Sharapova said in a conference. "I did fail the test and I take full responsibility for it."
The 28-year-old tennis star admitted that she had been taking the drug for the last 10 years. She said she didn't know that the substance was placed on WADA's banned list starting from January this year. On December 22, 2015, she received an email declaring the changes to the banned substances list for 2016, but she didn't read the attachment.
"It's very important for you to understand that for 10 years this medicine was not on what is banned list and I had been legally taking the medicine for the past 10 years," she stated. "But on January 1, the rules have changed, and meldonium became a prohibited substance, which I had not known."
Later at the conference, she admitted that she had made a huge mistake. "Throughout my long career I have been open and honest about many things, and I take great responsibility and professionalism in my job every single day," she continued.
"I let my fans down. I let the sport down that I've been playing since the age of 4, that I love so deeply," Sharapova added. "I know that with this I face consequences and I don't want to end my career this way, and I really hope that I will be given another chance to play this game."
Sharapova also addressed rumors about her retirement. "If I was ever going to announce my retirement, it would probably not be in a downtown Los Angeles hotel with this fairly ugly carpet," she stressed.
According to The International Tennis Federation, Sharapova "will be provisionally suspended with effect from 12 March, pending determination of the case." The penalty for first-time offenders is usually two years.
