https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAVWgcSr-Ik
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With a statement, the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP) has announced that Maria Sharapova will be provisionally suspended with effect from 12 March, pending determination of the case.
‘‘If I were to announce my retirement it wouldn’t have been in this LA downtown hotel with fairly ugly carpet” said Maria Sharapova in the press conference she organized on Monday to admit to the world that she has failed a drug test this January in Australia, resulting positive to Meldonium, a substance that was added to WADA’s banned list on January 1st this year.
Speculations about Sharapova retiring from tennis started raising on Sunday afternoon, as soon as on the official website of Maria Sharapova it was announced that the Russian was going to set a live press conference on Monday March 7th, from Los Angeles to make an announcement.
The news soon spread on social media, with experts and journalists assuming Maria could have decided to call it a career, aged 28. The Russian had decided to pull out of the tournament of Indian Wells few weeks ago with a forearm injury, just the last of a series of physical problems the Russian has had to deal with lately. Sharapova had to pull put of the US Open last year and only played in Wuhan, the WTA Finals and in Fed Cup in the last part of 2015, competing in a total of just 4 events in 6 months.
Maria started the 2016 season having to pull out of Brisbane, where she was defending champion, but still managed to reach the quarter-finals at the Australian Open before losing once again to Serena Williams.
All rumors have now officially failed to find confirmation. The 5-time Grand Slam champion, one of the biggest competitors the sport has ever witness on a tennis court, has decided to come clean and reveal that she was tested positive at the Australian Open for a medicine she had been taking for 10 years, since 2006, but that entered the forbidden list for WADA starting on January 1st 2016.
Meldonium and its benefits for professional athletes
The substance Maria has tested positive for is Meldonium an anti-ischemic used in the treatment of heart diseases. Maria had been taking the drug legally for 10 years for magnesium deficiency after a family history of diabetes.
Meldonium is a drug that wasn’t initially banned on the ATP and WTA tours, despite its ability to help increase the endurance performance of athletes.
Sharapova revealed that when she started taking the drug in 2006, she was had many health problems, including sings of diabetes.
Maria’s quotes
Here is what Maria told to the media during her press conference today in Los Angeles, which was broadcast live on You Tube.
”I received a letter from WADA with changes made in the rules in December, but I did not look at that list. I take full responsibility. I don’t want to end my career with this and I hope I will be given another chance to play the sport I love. I don’t know yet what is going to happen, but I will be in contact with the ITF to understand the further developments. I have let my fans down and the sport I love so much and I have been playing since I was 4 years old down”.
https://twitter.com/ESPNTennis/status/706937047471276033
It is not yet known which consequences the Russian will face for the failed drug test. As far as now not even Maria herself knows what is going to happen. Sharapova revealed she is still healing from her forearm injury which forced her to pull off at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells this week.
Both Sharapova’s parents, Yuri and Yelena, were in Los Angeles to support Maria in such a tough moment, clearly the hardest moment the Russian has had to face in her life and career as a professional tennis players.
On the same day as Sharapova another Russian sports’ star, ice dancing champion Ekaterina Bobrova failed a drug test, testing positive to the same substance as the tennis’ star, Meldonium.
