As Maria Sharapova celebrates the nine-month reduction of her doping ban, the ITF once again find themselves facing uncomfortable questions about their anti-doping programme.
On Tuesday the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reduced Sharapova’s ban from 24 months to 15. The CAS agreed that the Russian didn’t intentionally mean to consume the prohibited substance meldonium and concluded that the case “was not about an athlete who cheated.” As a result Sharapova can return to the tour from April 26th 2017.
During the entire process the 29-year-old has remained defiant and protested her innocence. Nevertheless, the ITF displayed an unsympathetic viewpoint as they handed the two-year ban in June this year.
Now the ban has been reduced, questions are starting to pile up regarding the credibility about the ITF and their doping control system. In her first interview with American TV since her ban, Sharapova has accused the ITF of being bias during her case.
“The ITF wanted to ban me for four years.” Sharapova said during an interview with Charlie Rose. “I went through a hearing, which was in front of an arbitration that was chosen by the ITF. So i’m in a hearing knowing that the people I am speaking to are the people I am in a fight with.”
Sharapova is not the first person to criticise the ITF over the handling of their doping case. In 2014 Serbian player Viktor Troicki accused the body of ‘trying to ruin his career’ after his suspension from the sport for refusing to produce a blood sample. Troicki argued that he was advised by a doctor that he could miss the test without any consequences and the CAS substantially reduced his ban to 12 months.
“ITF wants to justify its existence and to show that it is getting the job done – that is why they will try to use every tiny detail against you. What terrifies me is the fact that they are determined to ruin the career of every single player they have a conflict with. Their ultimate goal is to destroy their careers by imposing the harshest punishments possible”. He previously told B92.
Sharapova’s latest criticism comes days after a in depth ESPN report into drug testing in tennis. A confidential survey of 31 professional players found that 65% said that they don’t get tested enough and knows somebody that has benefited from performance enhancing drugs. Furthermore the report also found that only one out of 985 players was caught cheating, a substantially low figure compared to many other Olympic sports.
There is no denying that Sharapova consumed Meldonium, who still believes the product is not a performance enhancing substance. The issue isn’t what players are taking in tennis. The issue is the overall management of the doping control systems.
According to Sharapova’s lawyer John Haggerty, the CAS hasn’t uploaded an ITF ruling since 2009. He has called for the ITF to review their policy in the wake of the latest outcome.
“CAS striking down the ITF ruling is another in a growing list of cases where CAS has determined that the ITF Tribunal’s decision was wrong. In fact, the last time CAS upheld an ITF ruling was way back in 2009.” He said.
“Clearly, the ITF Tribunals are wrong far too often. And the really sad part about that here is Maria was forced to live with the ITF’s bad judgement and faulty conclusions for many months. Hopefully, this CAS decision will be a wake-up call to future ITF Tribunals.”
As Sharapova conducts her media duties in the wake of Tuesday’s decision, the ITF headquarters in London now has a dark cloud hanging over it. It is for this reason why the future is more uncertain for the governing body of tennis than it is for one of their players who received a ban.