Maria Sharapova was given a two-year ban on professional tennis last week, following an investigation into Sharapova’s admission that she tested positive for banned substances. I thought Maria’s ban was more than fair, especially given the shadiness of her story. While professional tennis players went on the record about Sharapova back in March, when she came clean about her doping, there was a whole lot of radio silence last week. That might be because Sharapova was never well-liked. And it might be because other tennis players think her situation is sloppy for a supposed professional. Roger Federer was one of the few to go on the record about Sharapova late last week, and he thinks that she’s ultimately responsible for what goes in her body. This is what he said:
“It doesn’t matter if they did it on purpose or not, I don’t really see the difference. You need to know what goes into your body, you have to be 100% sure of what’s going on. If you’re not, you’re going to be damned. I stay by my word that we should be saving blood samples for 10, 15, 20 years to come, so you have to scare away the people who think they could cheat.”
Federer said something similar back in March too, that with Sharapova’s positive test, there should be a renewed effort to test every player thoroughly. Andy Murray said something similar too. Basically, very few people are defending Sharapova and many are already writing her career-obituary. But that hasn’t stopped Sharapova from appealing the ITF’s ruling and asking that her case be heard in time for her ban to be lifted for the Rio Olympics!
Maria Sharapova appealed her two-year doping ban to the highest court in sports on Tuesday, and an expedited ruling will be issued next month ahead of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Sharapova filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport seeking to overturn or reduce the suspension imposed by the International Tennis Federation last week.
CAS said both sides agreed to an “expedited procedure,” which will allow the court to issue its ruling by July 18 at the latest. If the suspension is thrown out, Sharapova would be eligible to compete at the Rio Games, which open on Aug. 5. CAS said it hasn’t decided whether to hold a hearing.
Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam champion, announced she would appeal after the announcement of her suspension on June 7. An independent three-person panel appointed by the ITF said Sharapova did not intend to cheat because she didn’t know meldonium was banned but that she bore “sole responsibility” and “very significant fault” for the positive test. The panel also said various elements of Sharapova’s case “inevitably lead to the conclusion” that she took the substance “for the purpose of enhancing her performance.”
“Maria looks forward to CAS hearing her appeal and hopes she’ll be able to play again,” said Sharapova’s lawyer, John Haggerty. “The ITF tribunal concluded she had no intent to do anything wrong, and she thinks a two-year suspension is unfairly harsh.”
Well, that’s certainly confident. Not only will Sharapova appeal a decision that pretty conclusively found her guilty of various shady bulls–t, but she wants to get the appeal over and done in time so she could conceivably compete during the Olympics. I hope her appeal goes nowhere. I hope the two-year ban stays, obviously. But this confidence, this unwillingness to take a completely appropriate punishment for doing something wrong, it comes across as entitled. And that just reminds me of why Nike, Evian and Head are still sticking with her. Maybe if Sharapova loses her appeal, Nike will finally pull out of the business of Sharapova?
Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.
Bless her heart.
I’ll be very upset if her ban is overturned. She more than earned it.
+1
I would love to see her ass getting kicked again by Serena Williams at the finals, she was humiliated in London, no doubt it would happen again.
The London final was glorious just proof of just how GOOD Serena is at her sport.
And I agree if they overturn it they set a terrible precedent. I doubt they will though
Shameless.
Her entitlement comes from the fact that she knows how the system works. A 2 year ban is ridiculous.
The fact that she was allowed to get in front of the story and present her side first in that press conference shows the system is idiotic.
The fact that ITF said nothing about her using Meldonium many years before it was declared a forbidden substance is ridiculous.
The fact that ITF said nothing to the sponsors that decided to support a cheating athlete, in complete disregard to their own ruling, is ridiculous.
Sharapova and any other athlete should be entitled because respect is earned. ITF did not earn the respect and authority to implement rules on these people. Any of them. Not to mention the rumors on silent bans. Sharapova is only one small piece in a huge dirty puzzle. The fact that all the other tennis players seem so willing to throw all the shit on Sharapova makes me wonder if they are dumb or hypocritical. ITF, the forum that was supposed to protect them from cheaters was played by Sharapova and it still is.
Nike is also Federer’s sponsor, right now Federer is staying on the same podium with Sharapova and it is not on her, it was their decision.
Let’s not forget that Lance Armstrong was first protected and even created by the cyclism world and only in the last minute he was outed. Now, Armstrong is gone but the system lives on.
Nike, Evian and Head already threw out the window ITF’s ban. This is where her entitlement comes from.
No one takes responsibility for their own actions anymore. I agree with the statement that it doesn’t matter whether she did it on purpose or not. She is responsible for checking the list and making sure she’s not taking anything illegal. Grow up.
Yup, yup and yup
Whether she knew or not, she IS the responsible party. I find it difficult to believe she didn’t know, though.
+1. If I had a job where I could be banned for taking certain things, i would be checking and double checking everything that went into my body.
Right? If your livelihood depended on it?
Athletes know not to screw around with the banned substance list (let alone in an Olympic year, when her country is being intensely scrutinized for doping), and I’m betting there was a lot of chatter about Meldonium as a lot of athletes were using it. There’s no way she didn’t know.
They should review her appeal and end up extending her ban. She is certainly pushing it. No wonder this went on for so long she is so arrogant.
She made things worse by making out she had been taking it for 10 years for a condition she hadn’t got. She knew exactly why she was taking it.
@Kaiser: The WTA sent and e-mail to their players, asking them to stay quiet about Sharapova. That’s why – if any – only male players have spoken out so far.
Shady, shady, shady.
Idiot. She continued to take a banned substance in an Olympic year, where there was heightened scrutiny of the entire Russian federatiln, and she just hoped no one would notice? The arrogance.
Ultimately the 2 year ban is not really even a punishment. She should talk to Pete Rose.
And considering at this point Russia is probably going to be banned from Rio I’m very skeptical to think this was in any way accidental.
Sharapova should just follow the WTA tour around doing publicity spots for her sponsors. Nobody gives a shit whether she actually plays tennis anyway.
So entitled she doesn’t even know when she should be ashamed.
The almighty Roger Federer needs to shut his yap and sort out his own backyard. The guy should have retired years ago. He’s become a caricature of himself. It’s embarrassing.
And I hope she wins her appeal. The people who hand down these punishments are hypocrites and misogynists. I’m not going to defend what she did, but there have been multiple male players caught ingesting way worse than what she did and received little more than a slap on the wrist. Look up Richard Gasquet, Marin Cilic, plenty of others. Then look up what they did to Martina Hingis. The sexism is absolutely staggering.
I am not keen on Roger but you make me want to defend him! He has frequently annoyed me when he opens his yap and I’m not entirely sure players should comment about individual cases – a blanket statement or condemnation would do. And maybe that’s what he did. But while he is in the twilight of his career, he is still a world class player. Having defended Roger, I feel I need a lie down. My rather cruel nickname for him is squidgy face because…he has a squidgy face.
Roger is still #2 in the world isn’t he? (Or he was the last time I checked a few months ago.) He loves being on the tour, he makes a ton of money, and he could still get lucky and pull off one last surprise slam win. I don’t see why he should retire.
He could stand to stop being such an annoying kiss-ass politician though.
Yeah ok. Should have retired years ago? Huh. Look – Djokovic is the man on tour right now for sure. He has won the last four grand slams. For the last two he beat Murray in the final. The two before? Oh yeah that’s right – Federer. In fact Federer was the only man to beat him on multiple occasions last year (Djokovic took their 2015 head to head 4-3). So yeah – I don’t think he needs to retire just yet. He’s fine. But don’t let facts and numbers stop you.
Personally, I think Maria’s biggest problem with the appeal is that she comes across so shady in the 30-page ITF judgement. Not telling anyone in the world that you were taking this medication apart from your agent and father? Taking more of it before important matches? Still – 2 years without her would be a shame for the wta tour.
People in hell want ice water. Hope her appeal fails. She is a cheater.
athletes in at least 1 other sport have had their ban overturned for this substance. i dont think this particular substance helps anyones performance but it is low hanging fruit for WADA.
If I’m reading the WADA stuff correctly, that’s on the grounds of the athletes saying that they stopped taking the drug when necessary, but it was slower to leave their systems than expected. Sharapova admitted to continuing to take the drug. And this drug absolutely improves performance. It’s not low hanging fruit at all.
you are correct about the other other athletes
but many of my co workers in my office in moscow take this and none of them are athletic in any way. i just dont think this enhances anyone’s performance in a sport.
Some people get blood transfusions for reasons other than performance enhancement, but that doesn’t change that it’s illegal for athletes to do it. Meldonium as used by athletes is absolutely a performance enhancer. It increases blood circulation.
the medical evidence seems thin at best. i think banning it is a waste of time.
Seriously? It’s a drug intended for heart disease. Athletes should absolutely not be taking it, and a HUGE amount of athletes have been. Sharapova was just one of many who failed drug tests for the substance. And remember, “performance enhancing” doesn’t have to mean that it literally boosts an athlete’s performance the day of, but instead assists them in recovering faster and therefore able to handle more of a training load than if they’d abstained. Evidence absolutely points to meldonium assisting with that. That’s why folks take HGH or steroids, too. They don’t make you magically run faster, but they instead help you to recover better, letting you train harder and lift heavier and get stronger.
She’d do herself a bigger favor PR wise to just own her actions and admit she messed up. Stop trying to skirt around it and just suck it up.
My daughter played NCAA college sports and made it to the national championships in her sport for 4 years. And let me tell you, she adhered to every rule to the letter of the law that NCAA stipulates. If they said “no advertising” she didn’t allow her photo to be used for anything that could have been construed as such. If they said “Do not sign your recruitment contract before 9 am” that’s what she did. There is absolutely NO excuse for Sharapova and her ego not to have known better.