Maria Sharapova’s ban away from tennis has been reduced from two years to 15 months after The Court of Arbitration of Sport revealed it’s decision today.
First of all this is how we got today’s decision, on the 7th of March, Maria Sharapova announced that she had been taking Meldonium, a performance enhancing drug at the 2015 Australian Open. She was then sentenced to a two year banning at the hands of the ITF, which was effective from the 26th of January 2016. This meant that she would not play competitive tennis again until 2018.
However the Russian would appeal against her ban as she felt this was a harsh ban for someone who didn’t intentially enhance her performance. As a result today we found out from the CAS that they felt that Sharapova was not an “intentional doper” and therefore merited that statement with the reduction of the ban.
The CAS also explained in their statement that although she was at “no significant fault” she did bore some degree of fault, which is why Sharapova was punished with a 15 month ban. They also explained that Sharapova received no significant warning about the change of meldonium from WADA, the ITF or the WTA. Today’s result means that Sharapova can now participate in any tournament after the 26th April 2017.
Sharapova shared her delight at today’s result on her Facebook calling it ” one of my happiest days”. She did thank her fans for their support throughout the process saying ” I thank you so much for living and breathing so many of these tough months together. During this time, I have learned the true meaning of a fan and I am so fortunate to have had your support.” She also expressed her urgency at how the ITF should study what other federations did, to prevent other tennis players going through the same experience she had to.
Head have also controversially congratulated her saying that ” we are proud to have stood with Maria throughout these difficult times.” Sharapova now needs to focus on regaining her fitness ahead of next year’s clay court season.
