Maria will have as much security as Madonna for her comeback tournament in Stuttgart. Vladimir Putin and Yelena Isinbayeva have openly defended the tennis star. A Russian manufacturer of cookies and snacks has launched a new lollipop with a tag that says “Without Meldonium”.
STUTTGART – Maria Sharapova often loves to sarcastically refer to me as the “Professor”. She actually said that I look like a strict professor when I am trying to ask unusual questions during her press conferences. Once at Roland Garros I ran into her while she was on her way to meet the press and, since I wasn’t planning to attend that particular conference, she grabbed my arm and dragged me to the press room with her. In my opinion she is one of the smartest women that ever played professional tennis, not really in terms of technical choices concerning her one-dimensional game but primarily in terms of using the court as a platform for her outstanding popularity and lucrative businesses. Is Maria Sharapova greater as a tennis player or business woman? I would certainly say the latter.
Women’s tennis is currently facing a major identity crisis. In order to make headlines, female tennis players such as Caroline Wozniacki and Genie Bouchard have to pose half-naked for the Sports Illustrated bikini issue. Serena Williams might not even come back to professional tennis after she will become a mother next August at 36 years of age.
The Siberian Siren is a champion both on and off the court. So far she has 35 titles in her resume including 5 Grand Slams and she is also a superstar with an estimated 300 million dollar estate. Tomorrow night in Stuttgart Sharapova will return to the tennis stage wearing a purple “Special comeback” dress that Nike specifically designed for her debut. After testing positive for Meldonium and being sidelined for 15 months, Sharapova’s suspension proved to be an overly dramatic case due to the negligence of her distracted manager Max Eisenbud, her careless lawyers, WADA, the International Tennis Federation and Sharapova herself. She said that she had been taking Meldonium for many years in order to deal with a family history of diabetes. Meldonium was completely legal until the end of 2015 when it was added to the list of prohibited substances because it was proven to be a drug that enhances an athlete’s endurance and recovery. Sharapova’s lawyers could have said that she stopped taking the substance on December 31, 2015 and nobody could have proven them wrong with absolute certainty. Maria would have probably emerged unscathed. Instead they decided to organize a strange press conference at an irrelevant hotel downtown Los Angeles where the Russian publicly announced that she had failed a drug test.
The last professional match that Maria played before her suspension was against Serena Williams in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open on January 26, 2016 – exactly 455 days ago. Besides serving as the main sponsor at the WTA event in Stuttgart, Porsche is also one of the many brands that endorse Sharapova. Unlike the Swiss luxury brand Tag Heuer, Porsche never abandoned the Russian star even at the height of the Meldonium scandal. It is not a coincidence that Sharapova’s comeback will be staged at the Porsche Open thanks to a wild-card that the tournament organizers strategically reserved for her. At the moment Sharapova is without a ranking and she can only enter WTA events through a special invitation from the tournament organizers. The WTA has been planning every single detail of her comeback in terms of marketing and advertising, without particularly caring for the negative reactions of the many female players that can’t stand Sharapova. Apparently the Russian has very few friends in the locker room. In a recent interview for the French magazine “Le Parisien”, Maria said: “My goal is to be professional and respected for what I do. My goal is not to chat with the other girls about their new car or their new boyfriend.”
Caroline Wozniacki didn’t hold back when asked about Sharapova’s comeback: “Any player with a doping offense should start from zero and earn their place in the main draws.” Stosur, Cibulkova and Murray also agreed with the Dane’s opinion. Tsonga added: “A wild card? It is like giving candy to a kid that did something stupid. It conveys the wrong message.” John McEnroe: “It is hard to believe that she wasn’t aware of the fact that mildronate was added to the list of banned substances.”
Despite her ban from the pro tennis tour, Maria has been anything but banned from showbiz in the last 15 months. The list of her public appearances has been absolutely remarkable: Red carpets in New York, Moscow and Chicago; a popular attendance at the Vanity Fair party in Hollywood after the Oscars; an exhibition in Las Vegas with Elton John; another exhibition with Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig in Puerto Rico; photo shoots with the famous photographer Annie Leibovitz and – last but not least – promotional events to advertise her biography “Unstoppable: My life so far” due out in September during the next US Open.
With 23.7 million followers on social media, it is not surprising that during her comeback Maria will have as many bodyguards as Madonna. None other than the Russian President Vladimir Putin openly defended Sharapova claiming that “Meldonium never influenced her results.” Pole vault superstar Yelena Isinbayeva also defended her countrywoman: “My grandmother used to take that same drug. She was a baby sitter.” Rubiscookies – a Russian manufacturer of cookies and snacks – has recently launched an extremely successful lollipop with a tag that says “Without Meldonium”. The newspaper Sport Express conducted a survey with the following question: “Do you think that the CAS sentence was fair?” 67% answered that the Court of Arbitration for Sport should have completely revoked Sharapova’s ban. Current world No. 2 Angelique Kerber, who is also endorsed by Porsche, said in her pre-tournament press conference: “It is strange how she was allowed to enter a tournament that began on April 24 when her suspension will officially end on April 26.”
(Article translation provided by T&L Global – Translation & Language Solutions – www.t-lglobal.com )
