Sharapova Shock

[-SharonA-]

She has failed a drug test. I am so surprised, she who projects a squeaky clean image.

She reckons she has diabetes and her medication was banned as of 1st January.

[Svejk]

I'd believe anything she said.

[-Talbot-]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/35750285

[Baldric]

Is there a link?

[douglas9401]

Maybe the throat spray she uses? :-)

[Baldric]

X'ed posts ^^^^

[-Talbot-]

Yep ;0)

[Ellipsis]

> "I know many of you thought that I would be retiring today but if I was ever going to announce my retirement it would not be in a downtown Los Angeles hotel with this fairly ugly carpet," she said.

LOL.

A very honest press conference - good for her.

[toalisi]

I'm unsure about this.

I expect (rightly or wrongly ) she will get at least a 12 month ban.

[agchristie]

If she is dis-gruntled I'd say that was a success!

[Cloverjo]

It looks like an honest mistake. I am no Sharapova fan - I can't stand her screaming on court and can't bear to watch her - but I hope her career doesn't end like this.

[jourdain2]

She may personally not have known about the ban on her medication (she's busy training) - but her coach, nutritionists, physio etc. would definitely have known and should have acted accordingly in getting her medication changed. A shame for her.

[trt]

it would not be in a downtown Los Angeles hotel with this fairly ugly carpet," she said. ## A very honest press conference - good for her ##

Did she choose it?

[jim360]

It seems a different kind of failed test when you would have passed the test with exactly the same sample any of the last ten years... Granted she should have kept up with the change in standards but all the same this feels like an arbitrary mistake and certainly not an attempt to cheat.

[Cloverjo]

She had called a press conference to give an "important announcement", so I would think that she or her team of mangers etc. chose the location.

[agchristie]

I'm not going to judge her, I have plenty of blonde moments but not the type that court controversy ;)

[jim360]

Ace punning skills, there, you really smashed it. Anything else in your set, love?

[agchristie]

Jim, you should see my baselines!

Don't cross me or it will be - new balls please ;)

[thesecondlaw]

First of many, I reckon. Tennis is rife with drug takers. We're only hearing she failed because she said so. It was over a month ago and nothing from the tennis authorities. They keep failed tests quiet to avoid losing sponsorship money. As bad as cycling I think. Agassi even said in his book they ignored his failed test. They don't even announce bans. So when a player is injured for 6 months - be suspicious! Thinking about it, Sharapova is always injured. And Serena. Oh, and Nadal.

[agchristie]

@ thesecondlaw

I think you are being unfair to Sharapova. Such is her willingness to work and train hard renders her more susceptable to various injuries such as here:

This isn’t the first time Sharapova’s had problems with her shoulder. Five years ago she underwent surgery to repair her rotator cuff, causing a 10-month break from the tour and withdrawal from the 2008 U.S. Open.

This week Sharapova shared her thoughts in a Facebook post: “Withdrawing from the U.S. Open has been a really tough decision to make. I have done everything I could since Wimbledon to get myself ready, but it just wasn’t enough time. I have done many tests, received several opinions, and it all comes down to taking the proper amount of time to heal my shoulder injury properly.”

Sharapova announced on Friday that she had injured her arm and therefore would not be fit to play later this month in a tournament in California.

Some people are just injury prone. Bryan Robson was notorious. It didn't mean that he was a drug taker.

I think your suspicions over other tennis players are unwise and views like this do nothing except to denigrate world sport and spread distrust of the majority of sportspeople who are clean.

[Prudie]

I just find it impossible to believe that tennis players at that level don't pay their medical team damned good money to keep abreast of these changes and be 100% confident of what gets through a drug test and what doesn't. Hence it's all a bit iffy IMO