{"id":31332,"date":"2016-03-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/uncategorized\/maria-sharapova-fails-drugs-test-at-australian-open\/"},"modified":"2016-03-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-03-07T00:00:00","slug":"maria-sharapova-fails-drugs-test-at-australian-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/show\/maria-sharapova-fails-drugs-test-at-australian-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharapova fails drugs test at Aussie Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

The International Tennis Federation has suspended Maria Sharapova with effect from March 12, after the former world No.1 failed a drugs test at the Australian Open in January.<\/h3>\n

The 28-year-old Russian, a five-time grand slam champion, tested positive for meldonium, which is used to treat diabetes and low magnesium, and was only banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency as of January 1.<\/p>\n

Speaking on FIVEAA breakfast, Stephen Rowe was scathing in his assessment of Sharapova.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs she a cheat, is she na\u00efve, an honest mistake by a champion or unlucky? I think she\u2019s a cheat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s got cheat written all over it for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you ever heard of a na\u00efve athlete using a drug or supplement that makes you drowsy? It\u2019s funny that this na\u00efve athlete has used a drug or supplement that aids recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy for me to pot from the cheap seats, no question. I don\u2019t know this lady one little but. But it\u2019s got cheat written all over it,\u201d Rowey said.<\/p>\n

LISTEN TO STEPHEN ROWE HERE:<\/h3>\n

The ITF said Sharapova had provided an anti-doping sample at the Australian Open that had been analysed by a WADA-accredited laboratory, which returned a positive for meldonium – a prohibited substance.<\/h3>\n

“Ms Sharapova has accepted the finding of meldonium in her sample collected on January 26.<\/p>\n

“As meldonium is a non-specified substance under the WADA list of Prohibited Substances and Prohibited Methods, Ms Sharapova will be provisionally suspended with effect from 12 March, pending determination of the case.”<\/p>\n

Sharapova told a news conference at a Los Angeles hotel on Monday she took full responsibility for it.<\/p>\n

“For the past 10 years, I have been given a medicine called mildronate by my family doctor and it also has another name of meldonium, which I did not know.<\/p>\n

“It is very important for you to understand that for 10 years this medicine was not on WADA’s banned list and I had been legally taking the medicine. But on January the first, the rules have changed and meldonium became a prohibited substance.”<\/p>\n

\"Sharapova<\/p>\n

Meldonium is used to treat chest pain and heart attacks, but some researchers have linked it to increased athletic performance and endurance. It is not approved in the United States but is available in Russia, Latvia and other countries in that region.<\/h3>\n

The stunning news came a day after Sharapova’s management team said she was going to make a “major announcement,” which had many speculating that she was going to announce her retirement from professional tennis.<\/p>\n

“I made a huge mistake. I let my fans down and I let the sport down. I have been playing since the age of four a sport that I love so deeply,” said Sharapova, a teenage tennis prodigy who became the third-youngest Wimbledon champion.<\/p>\n

“I know that with this I face consequences and I don’t want to end my career this way. I really hope that I will be given another chance to play this game.”<\/p>\n

Sharapova, who has struggled with a series of injuries in recent years, has not competed since she lost to Serena Williams in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in January.<\/p>\n

“I was first given this medicine by my doctor for several health issues I was having back in 2006,” said Sharapova, who according to Forbes earned $29.5 million in 2015.<\/p>\n

“I was getting sick a lot. I was getting the flu every couple of months. I had irregular EKG results.<\/p>\n

“I had a deficiency in magnesium and a family history of diabetes, and there were signs of diabetes. That is one of the medications, along with others, that I received.”<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: THE AFL HAS EGG ON ITS FACE, SAYS MARK ROBINSON<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: VIDEO SHOWS MARTIN BRYANT GOADING POLICE AFTER PORT ARTHUR<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The International Tennis Federation has suspended Maria Sharapova with effect from March 12, after the former world No.1 failed a drugs test at the Australian Open in January. The 28-year-old Russian, a five-time grand slam champion, tested positive for meldonium, which is used to treat diabetes and low magnesium, and was only banned by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19086,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[244,231],"tags":[],"geo_market":[],"class_list":["post-31332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-david-and-will","category-show"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSharapova fails drugs test at Aussie Open - FIVEAA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/show\/maria-sharapova-fails-drugs-test-at-australian-open\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sharapova fails drugs test at Aussie Open\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The International Tennis Federation has suspended Maria Sharapova with effect from March 12, after the former world No.1 failed a drugs test at the Australian Open in January. 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