Winner of four open Grand Slam, former world number one and now in seventh place in the ATP rankings, Maria Sharapova is one of the sports most admired player for her talent and beauty in the tennis world. The secret of Sharapova’s success and her beauty came in open when she proclaimed water with lemon and chicken soup as her favorites. No one even thought of her consumption of banned substance Meldonium, also known as midronate, for the past 10 years, which is tagged as blood flow promoting drug and considered a banned substance under the WADA code this year. Maria Sharapova was warned at least five times in the month before she failed a drugs test that a substance she had been taking for almost her entire career was being banned.
In the competitive world of pro tennis, the stakes are very high and every player is vying for top honours and ready to go any extent to become the ultimate winner. This is happening in sporting world in general and tennis in particular. The laws of the game is framed so tough and a tennis player has to work very hard for each and every point. The frustration on the face of a fighting tennis player can be seen when he served a double fault, missed an easy volley, hit out a ball far out of the base line or when put an overhead smash on the net. Thus far the tennis players followed strict rules and tried to avoid banned substance but as the competition reached a peak the need for an enhanced performance will see you finish at the top of the podium. For such podium finishes you will have to permanently substitute your intake with energy giving substance and which include the banned substance. Even though the players are bonded by the WADA code they go out of the way at times to enhance their power game, thereby making hay when the sun shines. Sharapova chose the wrong way and now found her in a state of shock and brought doping shame for the tennis world. Now she may plead ignorance but the damage has already been done to her image as an outstanding women tennis player ATP circuit. However, the former tennis number one took full responsibility for her mistake when she made her feelings open at a news conference.
The Russian has been the highest-earning female athlete in the world for the past 11 years, with her off-court endorsements dwarfing her income from prize money. According to Forbes, she netted £21 million in 2015 alone. Now she will be deprived off all endorsements after achieving so much fame and name in the ad world. She also received support from her nemesis, Serena Williams, who beat her at the Australian Open in which she tested positive. Sharapova appeared up front and honest in admitting her folly but that does not show an escape route to the mess, which brought her doping shame in her long and illustrious career.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
