We may have seen the last of Maria Sharapova in
a tennis court following her failed drugs test, the president of the Russian
Tennis Federation says.
Sharapova,
29, shocked the world in March with the announcement she’d tested positive for
the banned substance, meldonium, at the Australian Open.
When asked if the former world no 1 would play any more
tournaments, Shamil Tarpishchev told R-Sport news agency it was “very doubtful”
and added that the five-time Grand Slam winner was in a “bad situation” at the
moment, the BBC reports.
However, Sharapova had said she
was “determined to play tennis again” after she was provisionally suspended on
March 12 by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
She is
waiting to hear the full extent of her punishment, which could be as much as a
four-year ban, although experts expect a lighter sentence in view of the
peculiar circumstances surrounding her drug fail.
The World Anti-Doping Association (Wada)
admitted in April that scientists were unsure how long meldonium stayed in the
system, while suggesting that athletes who tested positive for the substance
before 1 March could avoid bans, provided they had stopped taking it before 1
January.
But
Sharapova has already admitted she continued taking the drug past that date, as
she was unaware it had been added to the banned list.
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