Will Maria change after drug verdict?
TENNIS is bracing itself for the verdict on Maria Sharapova’s failed drug test this week, with one source close to the tribunal predicting a backdated ban of 12 to 18 months. Given a history of leniency in the sport it might even be less, but it seems the 29-year-old Russian’s expensively assembled legal team should secure her a return to the tour next year. Yet whatever happens there has already been substantial fallout from the Sharapova meldonium episode — lawsuits, special measures at Wimbledon, rule changes, wavering sponsors, fear and retribution. Ask Rafael Nadal, now contending with the misery of a left wrist injury, about the collateral damage. The Spaniard has long been infuriated that his name comes up whenever doping in tennis has been raised. Without this affair, ex-French government minister Roselyne Bachelot would never have casually accused him of sitting out a ‘silent ban’ when injured. He is now suing her. Not everything that has sprung from the Russian’s confession at a Los Angles press conference on March 7 has been negative. Until now tennis has taken a softer approach than most sports in declining to name anyone who tests positive until their case has been heard and judged by an independent tribunal. (Sharapova took matters into her own hands). That policy is likely to change this summer, with the tennis anti-doping programme making positive tests public. So there will be no possibility of any more ‘silent bans’ like when Marin Cilic disappeared from the circuit for months in 2013 with a presumed knee injury. The Sharapova episode compounded a difficult year for tennis, coming after allegations the sport had gone soft on matchfixing, the subject of an independent review that will report in 2017. At the time of the (largely recycled) BBC/Buzzfeed report
some observers maintained that doping was much more of a threat to the game’s integrity than a small percentage of dodgy matches at the lowest levels of the tour. Yet nobody expected matters to come to a head so soon. Wimbledon have responded by putting unspecified money into extra testing, although what is really required is a greater commitment from all the game’s constituents to tackling the problem all year round. What of Sharapova herself? She will have found out who her friends are, and it has become clear these are few and far between in the locker room. Several weeks after Sharapova’s announcement, former Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova said: ‘I didn’t make any statement, as I didn’t want to be the only person to openly say what they think about this case. I will only say that I don’t feel sorry at all for Sharapova and I don’t miss her on the tour. She’s a totally unlikeable person. Arrogant, conceited and cold. When I sit beside her in the locker room, she won’t even say hello.’ France’s Kiki Mladenovic said: ‘She can play with words and find a good lawyer but on the principles of the situation, she’s wrong. She has no excuse that can defend what she’s done. For me there’s no doubt. She wasn’t really liked. ‘I respected her for her career but she wasn’t really nice or polite.’ Chris Evert, commentating on the French Open for Eurosport, believes if Sharapova comes back we may see a different side to her. ‘When something like this happens it can change a person,’ said Evert. ‘Maybe the fact she hasn’t had much support, she will realise part of that is because she always kept her distance. I have a sneaking suspicion that if she comes back she will be friendlier.’ Sharapova has not changed her style much judging by her activities on social media, with posts bordering on the brazen. These have shown her training in preparation for a return, and last week she put up pictures of herself in Chicago, with her shirt bearing the slogan ‘Back in five minutes’. Despite being provisionally banned, she was named in Russia’s tennis team for the Rio Olympics. Much will be revealed when the tribunal ruling comes out, supposedly in the next few days. Whatever the three-person panel rules, the implications have stretched beyond what it means for one of tennis’s few genuine superstars.