Sharapova claims integrity, passion made her fight hard after ban

RANCHO MIRAGE (California): When Maria Sharapova realised her tennis career could be ended by what she claims was an accidental doping violation, the former world No 1 decided she had to fight. “When you love what you do, and you do it with passion and integrity … then you know what you stand for and who you are, and that’s why I fought so hard to get that back,” Sharapova said.

Sharapova believes she triumphed over injustice when she managed to get her doping ban reduced to 15 months last October. The five-time Grand Slam winner plans to return to competition next month at Stuttgart.

Although the Russian- born Sharapova realises she’s closer to the end of her career than the beginning, she told a women’s sports conference yesterday that she couldn’t accept the initial two-year suspension levied by the International Tennis Federation. The Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced her ban.

One of the world’s wealthiest and best-known female athletes has been idle since the 2016 Australian Open, where she tested positive for meldonium, an over-the-counter Latvian drug of dubious cardiac benefit.

The substance was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency earlier that year, but she claims she missed the memo instructing her to stop using it after 10 years. “You always want to end your career or a chapter in your life on your terms and in your voice.

“And to be in a moment where you felt like it could have ended on someone else’s terms was very difficult for me to accept. That’s why I fought so hard for the truth to be out. You don’t realise how much you love something, how much something means to you, until you lose it for some time.”

Sharapova sidestepped a question about how other players will perceive her comeback. She has acknowledged having few friends in the WTA locker room, preferring to keep her friendships outside tennis. – ANA-AP