Speaking in an interview with Doug Gottlieb of CBS Sports, former world No.4 James Blake says that Maria Sharapova’s level of concealment regarding her meldonium usage tells him that she knew what she was doing was wrong.
Listen to Blake's Full Interview with Gottlieb Here
Sharapova, who was handed a two-year ban by the ITF last week, switched doctors in 2013 and never told her new physicians that she was still taking the medication. The only person other than her father that knew of Sharapova’s meldonium usage was her agent Max Eisenbud.
In the ITF’s 33-page report on the Sharapova case, it was revealed that Sharapova never reported her meldonium usage on doping control forms.
“She hasn’t disclosed it for over three years,” Blake said. “So, to me, that says you knew what you were doing was wrong. You knew they couldn’t catch you before because it wasn’t legal and now maybe you just didn’t know that you were going to get caught, but you didn’t want to write down that you were taking it. When I took those tests, I would write down that I took vitamin C, that I took an Advil—something as simple and benign as that because you want to disclose everything you’re taking, just in case something is ever illegal. You want to let them know everything you took, and if she’s not letting them know, then to me, that means she had an idea of what she was doing.”
Blake may view the Russian’s mistake critically, but he says it doesn’t mean that she should be stripped of her major titles. After all, meldonium wasn’t illegal before 2016. That said, Blake says he would understand if other women in the locker room were upset with Sharapova.
“If I was one of the female players on tour and I played against her, I’d be pretty upset at this point,” Blake said. “I don’t think you can take slams away because what she was doing at that time was legal. She just wasn’t disclosing it. Anyone could have been taking it, so I don’t think you can take that away. I may have just been upset playing long matches against her and knowing that she had a little bit of an edge—or a lot of an edge. I really have no idea how much of an effect it has, but she clearly felt that it was giving her an edge. Otherwise I don’t think that she would have kept taking a heart medication that she really seems like she didn’t need—unless she felt like it was giving her an edge.
"It was doing something legal at the time. That’s why I think if she had stopped in January, she never would have gotten in trouble and nothing would have happened and she could have claimed that everything she did was legal and it’s fine. I don’t think you take away her slams. I don’t think you take away her great career. I think she’ll be in Newport, first-ballot Hall of Famer. But it’s unfortunate, and I think the girls are not going to take too kindly to when she does come back on tour.”