Five-time Grand Slam champion and world highest paid female athlete, Maria Sharapova, shocked the tennis world when she held a press conference Monday to announce that she had failed a drug test earlier this year.
The tennis anti-doping program confirmed the positive test, which occurred January 26, the day Sharapova lost to Serena Williams in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
Sharapova, 28, who has not played since because of a forearm injury, faces the biggest setback of her career.
“A few days ago, I received a letter from the ITF that I had failed a drug test at the Australian Open. I did fail the test, and I take full responsibility for it.
“I know with this that I face consequences, I don’t want to end my career this way, and I really hope I’m given another chance to play this game.
“I take full responsibility for it,” Sharapova said at a press conference.
Sharapova went on to explain she had been taking a drug called Mildronate for a decade. Mildronate, also known as Meldonium, was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances in 2016.
Meldonium is used to treat ischemia or a lack of blood flow. But in athletic competitions, the National Center for Biotechnology Information says the drug provides “an increase in endurance performance of athletes, improved rehabilitation after exercise, protection against stress, and enhanced activations of central nervous system (CNS) functions.”
“I was getting sick very often,” she said.
“I had a deficiency in magnesium. I had irregular EKG results, and I had a family history of diabetes and there were signs of diabetes.”
Increased endurance and rehabilitation certainly sounds like a competitive advantage, but Sharapova has been plagued by arm and shoulder injuries recently, playing just three tournaments in the past eight months.
But Sharapova is hardly alone. Athletes in several sports have reportedly tested positive for the substance. Abeba Aregawi, a Swedish runner, who won the women’s 1,500 meters at the 2013 world championships has also been implicated.
“I thought it was very important for me to come out and speak about this in front of all of you, because throughout my long career, I have been very open and honest about many things,” she said.
“I made a huge mistake, and I’ve let my fans down. I’ve let this sport down that I have been playing since the age of 4 and that I love so deeply.”
Failing the test could cost the tennis player a spot at the Rio 2016 Olympics and the $298,000 she won in January at the Australian Open.
The world no.7 tennis player has had her contract with American sport kit sponsor, Nike, suspended.
“We are saddened and surprised by the news about Maria Sharapova,” said Kejuan Wilkins, a spokesman for Nike, which has worked with the player for more than a decade.
“We have decided to suspend our relationship with Maria while the investigation continues. We will continue to monitor the situation.”
The two-time French Open champion has been provisionally suspended by the global tennis body effective March 12, a ban that could jeopardise her spot at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
She won Silver for Russia at the 2012 Olympics in London.
na dem know dat one