Maria Sharapova will miss this year’s Olympic Games after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) postpone their decision in her appeal until September.
The former world No.1 is currently serving a two-year ban after testing positive for Meldonium during the Australian Open. Meldonium was added to the list of prohibited substances on January 1st this year. Shortly after the ban was issued to her by the ITF, Sharapova swiftly launched an appeal to the CAS with the hope that the conviction will be either overturned or reduced.
Sharapova filed her appeal to the CAS on June 9th, one day after she received the ban. The decision to postpone the hearing has been agreed by both parties due to ‘scheduling conflicts’.
“Maria Sharapova and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) have agreed to defer the CAS decision until September 2016.” The CAS said in a statement.
“Due to the parties requiring additional time to complete and respond to their respective evidentiary submissions, and several scheduling conflicts, the parties have agreed not to expedite the appeal”
During the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Sharapova won a silver medal in the singles competition. The absence of the 29-year-old from the Rio games is a setback for the Russian team. The head of Russian tennis, Shamil Tarpischev, has called Sharapova’s absence a ‘loss’ for the team. Previously Tarpischev said he was hoping that the former world No.1 will be able to be reinstated in time for the event and named her in the provisional team depending on the outcome of her appeal.
“The absence of Sharapova is a the loss of our national team at the Olympics,” he told the Tass News Agency.
“We counted on her to medal in singles. In this situation, the composition of the women’s team for the Games remains the same.”
The five-time grand slam champion hasn’t played a match on the tour since her quarter-final loss to Serena Williams at the Australian Open. During her time away from the tour, Sharapova has been spotted attending business lessons in London run by the Harvard School of Business.
The outcome of Sharapova’s appeal to the CAS will be announced by September 19th. This also means that there will be no chance of the 29-year-old participating in the final grand slam of the year, the US Open, which will start on August 29th.
