By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Maria Sharapova says she will appeal her two-year suspension, writing, "I cannot accept an unfairly harsh two-year suspension."
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve
A defiant Maria Sharapova has come out swinging in announcing she will appeal her two-year ban for testing positive for meldonium at the Australian Open.
The former world No. 1 is not eligible to return to tennis until January 25, 2018. Additionally, Sharapova forfeits all prize money and ranking points she earned at the 2016 Australian Open. She tested positive for meldonium following her quarterfinal loss to Serena Williams in Melbourne.
In a post on her Facebook page made minutes after the ITF announced her two-year suspension, Sharapova blasted the decision as "unfairly harsh" and said she will immediately appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
More: Maria Sharapova Receives Two-Year Ban
"I cannot accept an unfairly harsh two-year suspension," Sharapova wrote. "The tribunal, whose members were selected by the ITF, agreed that I did not do anything intentionally wrong, yet they seek to keep me from playing tennis for two years. I will immediately appeal the suspension portion of this ruling to CAS, the Court of Arbitration for Sport."
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has reduced suspensions on appeal in some cases, including 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic and Richard Gasquet.
Sharapova said the ITF sought a four-year ban in her case.
"You need to know that the ITF asked the tribunal to suspend me for four years – the required suspension for an intentional violation -- and the tribunal rejected the ITF’s position," Sharapova said.
Read Sharapova's complete response here:
In its conclusion, the three-member tribunal said Sharapova made a "deliberate decision" to conceal her use of meldonium, also known as mildronate, from anti-doping authorities.
Read the tribunal's 33-page decision here.
"This was a deliberate decision not a mistake," the tribunal ruled. "Taken together with the evidence that over a period of 3 years she did not disclose her use of Mildronate to her coach, trainer, physio, nutritionist or any medical adviser she consulted through the WTA, the facts are only consistent with a deliberate decision to keep secret from the anti-doping authorities the fact that she was using Mildronate in competition...
"If she had not concealed her use of Mildronate from the anti-doping authorities, members of her own support team and the doctors whom she consulted, but had sought advice, then the contravention would have been avoided. She is the sole author of her own misfortune."
Ultimately, the Court of Arbitration for Sport will determine exactly how long that misfortune continues.