Maria Sharapova announces she failed drugs test at Australian Open

Russian expects to face punishment from ITF for using banned substance
• Sharapova has taken meldonium for years but it was banned in January

Maria Sharapova announced at a press conference on Monday evening that she failed a drug test at this year’s Australian Open and expects to face a punishment from the ITF. She said the substance is called meldonium.
“I have to take full responsibility for it. It’s my body and I have to be responsible for what I put in my body,” she said.
The Russian said the substance was legal in tennis until 1 January. It was something she has been taking for years and it was prescribed by a doctor in 2006 after she had irregular heartbeat and other health conditions including the early signs of diabetes.

She also said the substance was not performance-enhancing for her and she had no idea it was banned until she received a letter from the ITF. It was not for recovery for the many injuries that have hampered her throughout her career.

Despite her injuries Sharapova has become one of the most popular women’s players of all time. Her model-like looks have earned her countless endorsements that pay her a reported $22m a year. She has relationships with Evian, Head, Nike, Porsche and Tag Heuer. Her commercials are constantly on television in the US and it is common to see photo ads featuring her in both sports and fashion magazines.

Unlike many tennis stars, Sharapova did not grow up wealthy. In fact, she might never have become a tennis star at all had Martina Navratilova not spotted the six-year-old Sharapova at a tournament in the Russian city of Sochi and urged her to train in the US with the famed tennis coach Nick Bollettieri.

She moved to Florida with her father, Yuri, and quickly became a young star under Bollettieri’s instruction. She burst on the international scene at 16 when she made the fourth round of Wimbledon. The next year she won four tournaments, including Wimbledon – her first grand slam title. At 6ft 2in tall and with a powerful serve she immediately became a sensation. Photographers clamoured for pictures and fans appreciated her skill.

A year later she was briefly ranked the world’s No1 player but soon lost it as she began to deal with the first of many injuries that would affect her career. She won the US Open in 2006 but fell from the world’s top tier in ensuing years as she tried to overcome a series of shoulder injuries that required surgery twice in two years.

It was not until 2011 that her skills returned and she became a force in tennis. In a two-year stretch she made at least the semi-finals in six of eight grand slam events, winning the first of her two French Open titles. But a collarbone injury in 2013 slowed her again and her career again stalled. There were moments of brilliance, including her win in the 2014 French Open and a runner-up finish at the 2015 Australian Open that helped her get to a No 2 ranking.

Then came the most recent stretch of forearm and leg injuries that has limited her to only three tournaments in eight months. Her health and the presence of talented rivals, most notably Serena Williams, kept her from being one of the 10 best players ever. Despite that, she is still currently ranked seventh in the world.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/mar/07/maria-sharapova-failed-drugs-test-australian-open-2016-tennis

It's not as if she's going crazy with sex and drug parties. She was sandbagged. Meldonium was acceptable for ions, and she had been taking it forever. Then, suddenly, the committee changed the rules to prohibit it.

She's guilty of carelessness, nothing more. She should have a physician on staff who pays attention to such things.

Original Quill wrote:It's not as if she's going crazy with sex and drug parties.    She was sandbagged.  Meldonium was acceptable for ions, and she had been taking it forever.  Then, suddenly, the committee changed the rules to prohibit it.

She's guilty of carelessness, nothing more.  She should have a physician on staff who pays attention to such things.

And the names where different for the same drug

This is a strange one.

She has put her handz up rather quickly, maybe she should have waited for the sharks to form a circle.

Is that the one who grunts and screams when she hits the ball?

nicko wrote:Is that the one who grunts and screams when she hits the ball?  

Just one among several, nicko...

Serena Williams can be just as bad at times..
And before her, Jennifer Capriata was pretty noisy in her younger days, too.

Something else that has to be kept in mind, when any of these drug issues in profesional sports arise...

That 'WADA' body that conducts the drug tests is not some kind of official or ruling body  --  rather, it is actually a privately owned company, based in the USA, that is contracted to run the tests by the international sporting ruling associations..

They give the results, along with their recomendations to the relevant sporting body, who then makes the actual decisions.
The comments so far from various sports journalists is only their opinions, based on previous events.

We still await some official statements f4om the International Tennis Federation..

Don't think i'v heard noise from a man, I could be wrong though.

nicko wrote:Don't think i'v heard noise from a man,   I could be wrong though.

I don't think as many do it, but I'm pretty sure a few do. Then again, I know almost nothing about tennis.

I do know that baseball pitchers are big on grunting:

Ben_Reilly wrote:

nicko wrote:Don't think i'v heard noise from a man,   I could be wrong though.

I don't think as many do it, but I'm pretty sure a few do. Then again, I know almost nothing about tennis.

I do know that baseball pitchers are big on grunting:

AND then there's weightlifting, karate, judo, tae kwondo and such...

I used to do it in bed [with the Wife]

PS, could have been the Wife!!!

Original Quill wrote:It's not as if she's going crazy with sex and drug parties.    She was sandbagged.  Meldonium was acceptable for ions, and she had been taking it forever.  Then, suddenly, the committee changed the rules to prohibit it.

She's guilty of carelessness, nothing more.  She should have a physician on staff who pays attention to such things.

I struggle with such rulings and often wonder at the mindset of the specific committee's that decide such things for the entire sporting membership! 

I've known people that have such a hyped up reaction to just taking something OTC that isn't considered a regulated ingested product and if they were in such a sporting event --- then that adrenalin rush would be an inducement for a stellar performance --- but would it show up on the specific drug testing...chances are it would not.

clipped from the OP'd >>> “I have to take full responsibility for it. It’s my body and I have to be responsible for what I put in my body,” she said.
The Russian said the substance was legal in tennis until 1 January. It was something she has been taking for years and it was prescribed by a doctor in 2006 after she had irregular heartbeat and other health conditions including the early signs of diabetes.

She also said the substance was not performance-enhancing for her and she had no idea it was banned until she received a letter from the ITF. It was not for recovery for the many injuries that have hampered her throughout her career.

I'm aware of the way that our society swings {like a pendulum} and it's never in small degrees either; but after the years of the Lance Armstrong - years of hyped up baseball record shattering players --- I suppose she's just one of many that will become the fall out for those others that have gotten away with the more heinous violations. 
But any given prescription drug manufacturer can and will modify their own methods of manufacturing to cut costs and save their own bottom line --- who's to say what is considered a SAFE PRESCRIPTION today won't become something else in the near future?

I wonder if the drug she had inside her REALLY gave her an advantage over other players?

Was it Billy Jean King Moffatt who used to GRUNT when serving?

nicko wrote:Is that the one who grunts and screams when she hits the ball?  

Well, she's one of the newest {younger generation} that has been heard doing that;
I remember Andre Agassi's being the first to be called out for it during a match with
Ivan Lendl during the US Open --- Andre was incensed and complained numerous times during the match.

Grunting in tennis is the very loud noise, sometimes described as "shrieking" or "screaming", made by some players while hitting their shots. It is prominent in both men's and women's tennis. In the 1988 US Open, Ivan Lendl complained about Andre Agassi's grunting: "When Agassi went for a big shot, his grunt was much louder. It threw off my timing." In the 2009 French Open, Aravane Rezaï complained to the umpire about Michelle Larcher de Brito's "shrieking", which led to a Grand Slam supervisor being brought to the court.  Many players and spectators find it to be distracting or obnoxious above a certain sound level.
Monica Seles and Jimmy Connors are generally considered as the "grunt creator" in the women's and men's games respectively. Examples of contemporary tennis players who notably grunt are Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and David Ferrer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunting_in_tennis 

Back in the day - when 'WHITE' was the only 'allowed color option' for both men's & women tennis; look how far we've come from those years >>>




To some of the most recent bloopers known --- images that would make a 'HO BLUSH' for what has been viewed/captured on film at the recent years tennis matches around the world...

    I'm certain that these immodesty shots aren't just reserved for Venus Williams...but I didn't need to spend undue time scrolling through all of the 'OOOPSIE' images that are out there! 

But we've come a long-long way from those tennis tournaments where the only sounds were of the ball making contact with the surface and all of the players had to wear only 'WHITE' colored attire. 

I don't watch the tennis these days - partly because of the screeching. There's simply no need for it.

Raggamuffin wrote:I don't watch the tennis these days - partly because of the screeching. There's simply no need for it.

Still not got Sky?????????????????????????????????????????