Throughout her career Maria Sharapova has been the ultimate sporting professional but the 28-year-old Russian admitted on Monday night that one rare moment of unprofessionalism had cost her the chance to carry on playing tennis, which has always been the part of her working life she cherishes the most.
The world’s most famous sportswoman and the planet’s highest-earning female athlete for more than a decade revealed at a press conference in Los Angeles that she had failed a drugs test. Sharapova said she had tested positive at this year’s Australian Open for meldonium, which she had been taking for health reasons since 2006.
Meldonium was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances at the start of this year, but Sharapova had not been aware of that fact because she had failed to read details of the updated legislation which had been sent to her. The drug is used to treat chest pain and heart attacks, but it is also said to improve athletic performance and endurance.
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The world’s most famous sportswoman and the planet’s highest-earning female athlete for more than a decade revealed at a press conference in Los Angeles that she had failed a drugs test. Sharapova said she had tested positive at this year’s Australian Open for meldonium, which she had been taking for health reasons since 2006.
Meldonium was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances at the start of this year, but Sharapova had not been aware of that fact because she had failed to read details of the updated legislation which had been sent to her. The drug is used to treat chest pain and heart attacks, but it is also said to improve athletic performance and endurance.
Sharapova, who is likely to receive a lengthy ban, said she hoped this would not mark the end of her career. “I made a huge mistake,” she admitted. “I received a letter on 22 December from WADA – an email with the changes happening for next year and a link to a button which you can press to see the prohibited items for 2016. I did not look at that list.”
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