Avid Chinese fans rave over Sharapova’s return
BEIJING – One fellow player labelled her “a cheater” and she is said to be unpopular in the locker room, but Maria Sharapova remains a crowd favorite in China despite her doping ban.
“Welcome back goddess,” said one banner at the China Open in Beijing this week, while a Russian flag had the words: “I got your back Maria.”
The 30-year-old Russian was in the Chinese capital this week for the first time since coming back to tennis in April from a 15-month suspension for taking the banned substance meldonium.
The former world number one is now 104 in the rankings and needed a wildcard to make it to the China Open, where she was to take on world number two Simona Halep later Wednesday.
Sharapova’s return to the tennis circuit divided opinion, with the Canadian Eugenie Bouchard among her biggest critics, calling the five-time Grand Slam champion “a cheater” who should never have been allowed to play again.
But try telling that to Sharapova’s fans in Beijing, where along with Rafael Nadal she has been the biggest draw by far at the China Open.
Suky, 26, flew from Xiamen in eastern China to see her hero in the flesh for the first time.
Chinese flags flutter all over the country at this time of year to mark the founding of communist China, but the only flag on Suky’s right cheek was a smudged Russian tricolor.
On her left arm and chest she had written her version of Sharapova’s signature in black biro.