Five-time major champion returns April 26

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-thecounter Latvian drug of dubious cardiac benefit.

The substance was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency earlier that year, but Sharapova 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,” Sharapova said. “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 realize how much you love something, how much something means to you, until you lose it for some time.”

Sharapova took questions only from moderator Julie Foudy at the ANA Inspiring Women in Sports Conference, a gathering of athletes and prominent professionals preceding the LPGA’s first major of the season at Mission Hills Country Club. The conference was produced by IMG, the sports and entertainment conglomerate that represents Sharapova.

Sharapova will return as a wild card in Stuttgart’s Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, a tournament she won three consecutive times from 2012-14 before Angelique Kerber won the past two.

Sharapova’s suspension ends on the third full day of play at the tournament, and she won’t be allowed even to set foot in Porsche Arena before April 26, the day of her first match.

Women’s No. 1 Kerber, Dominika Cibulkova and men’s No. 1 Andy Murray are among several players angered by Sharapova being allowed to resume her career in main draws without playing her way back through qualifiers.