Maria Sharapova criticises International Tennis Federation over ban for taking meldonium
Friday 14 April 2017 12:05, UK
Maria Sharapova believes the world governing body of tennis should have informed her that meldonium had been added to the banned list of substances last year.
The five-time Grand Slam champion returns to the WTA Tour later this month, following a 15-month suspension, after testing positive for the substance at the 2016 Australian Open.
The Russian, who turns 30 next week, had been using meldonium for more than a decade but the substance was reclassified as a banned drug ahead of the 2016 season.
Sharapova, who was originally suspended for two years before having the sentence reduced to 15 months on appeal, makes her competitive comeback in Stuttgart in just over a week.
Meldonium was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned substances after mounting evidence that it boosted blood flow and enhanced performance.
Regarding this change in the rules, she told The Times: "Why didn't someone come up to me and have a private conversation, just an official to an athlete, which would have taken care of the confidentiality problem they talked about later.
"Ultimately the fault was mine. But I had been getting clearance on everything I was taking for seven years and I became complacent."
She admitted she began using the substance while still a teenager, not long after winning the Wimbledon singles title 13 years ago.
Sharapova added: "I was getting colds and flu and it started to affect my body.
I was taken to a doctor in Moscow. He gave me about 10 supplements to take, one of which was Mildronate.
"So I was taken to a doctor in Moscow. He gave me about 10 supplements to take, one of which was Mildronate (trade name of meldonium)."
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has always defended itself over publicising the change in status of meldonium, and said it was not aware it was being used extensively in eastern Europe.
An ITF statement last year read: "It was accepted by Ms Sharapova in the hearing before CAS that the ITF did not know before 2016 about the extent to which meldonium was used by athletes from any region, or that Ms Sharapova herself was using meldonium."
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Sharapova had claimed in October 2016 that she did not know mildronate was also known as meldonium.
She stressed: "For the past 10 years, I have been given a medicine called mildronate by my family doctor and a few days ago, after I received the ITF letter, I found out that it also has another name of meldonium which I did not know."
