Tennis Star Gets Two-Year Suspension for PEDs, Will Appeal
Tennis star Maria Sharapova was suspended Wednesday by the International Tennis Federation for testing positive for a performance enhancing drug.
FOX’s Jared Max reports:
Sharapova was suspended for two years, which means, unless the five-time Grand Slam singles champion wins her appeal, she will not have the chance to win another major event until the 2018 French Open, when she would be 31. This suspension is retroactive to this January’s Australian Open.
Now because the ITF Tribunal concluded that Sharapova did not “intentionally” seek treatment from her doctor to obtain a performance enhancing drug, she claims she used Meldonium to treat medical issues that pertain to her heart and concern of diabetes, the suspension is half the length of what it would’ve been, if she was found to have purposefully sought PEDs.
Still, Sharapova called the two-year ban “harsh”. Her appeal will be heard by a three-judge panel.
Jared Max, FOX News.
