On Women’s day,
writing about women in Sport – I wrote Serena
Williams would feature on top. Is she
the greatest i.e., most famous or most accomplished – a measure of feminine
athleticism was the Q ? the one who according to media could push her
down was Ronda Jean Rousey, an American mixed martial artist, judoka, and
actress. In 2015, she was the third most searched person on Google. In May 2015, two magazines ranked Rousey as
the most "dominant" active athlete. Though not of the calibre, one
who was always in the limelight due to her game and more because of her looks
has fallen badly !
The five-time Grand
Slam champion has so far won 35 WTA titles and in 2012 became just the sixth
female player in the Open era to win the career Grand Slam, joining the sport’s
legends: Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and
Serena Williams. More than all her
on-court brilliance, Sharapova has been even better off the court. Sharapova
was the world’s highest-paid female athlete last year for the 11th straight
year with earnings of $29.7 million, including $23 million from endorsements
and appearances. She ranked No. 26, including men, among the top earners in
sports. The utter dominance Serena Williams exercised over her in compiling a 19-2 record
has come close to defining the Russian's career, and denied the women's game
the authentic rivalry it has craved in recent years.
It was not only the
game that proved to be a money spinner for Sharapova as she expanded her brand
beyond the traditional endorsement space. She launched her own gummi candy
brand, Suparpova, in 2012 and is adding chocolate this year. Sharapova wants to
turn Sugarpova into a lifestyle brand. She hosted her own tennis tournament,
Maria Sharapova & Friends, in Los Angeles in December. The two-day
exhibition included celebrities and tennis pros.
All that would be
shunned as the diva Maria Sharapova shocked the tennis world Monday when she
announced she had failed a drug test at the Australian Open. The media and fans
were expecting a retirement announcement at a press conference that she had
hastily called in Los Angeles, a rumour which Sharapova put to rest with a bit
of gallows humor: “If I was going to announce my retirement, it would not be in
a hotel with this fairly ugly carpet.” Sharapova said she had been taking the
drug Meldonium for a decade for her health, and unbeknownst to Sharapova it was
added to the WTA Tour’s banned list of substances on January 1.
Credit Sharapova and
her PR machine at IMG for getting out ahead of this story before any punishment
had been doled out by the WTA Tour. Nonetheless, there is now a question mark
over Sharapova due to her use of the anti-ischemic drug, which was banned
because its misuse by athletes to increase endurance performance, as well as
improve rehabilitation after exercise. If more information emerges that
contradicts Sharapova’s story that it was an honest mistake, it could
jeopardize her standing as the world’s most marketable female athlete. The drug
which is mainly available in Eastern Europe is said to have become a drug of
choice for Russian athletes implicated of cheating in other sports.
Meldonium, also known as
Mildronate, was added to the new banned list of drugs last year, which came
into place on January 1, 2016. The drug was added to the list because the World
Anti-Doping Agency said there 'evidence of its use by athletes with the
intention of enhancing performance.' It
is used medically to treat ischemia, or a lack of blood flow. It can be used as
a metabolic enhancer to increase endurance through greater blood flow. Sharapova
said she had been taking the drug for ten years - but Latvian manufacturers
Grindeks say that four to six weeks is a common course.
The Institute of
Biochemistry - Center for Preventive Doping Research, German Sport University
Cologne said of the drug: 'Anti-ischemic drug Mildronate demonstrates an increase
in endurance performance of athletes, improved rehabilitation after exercise,
protection against stress, and enhanced activations of central nervous system
(CNS) functions.' Sharapova said she has been taking the drug since 2006 to aid
in a variety of health problems. On December 22 of last year, WADA sent out an
email indicating what drugs would be banned starting in 2016 and Sharapova
conceded that she received but did not read that email.
Sharapova earns
$30million a year in endorsements, according to Forbes. Current endorsements
include American Express, Avon, Evian, Porsche. The World that had all along
braced her is reacting instantly. The
five-times Grand Slam champion dropped the bombshell at a press conference at a
Los Angeles hotel, confessing she had been found to have taken Mildronate – or
Meldonium – which was prohibited from January 1 this year. Just hours later, the 28-year-old lost her
most lucrative deal - an eight-year contract extended in 2010 for a reported
$70million with sportswear brand Nike, where she has her own clothing line. Swiss
watch brand TAG Heuer followed suit, saying that its contract with Sharapova
had expired at the end of 2015 and it has pulled out of negotiations on a new
agreement. Another one of her major partners, Porsche, said that while they are
'certainly not dumping' Sharapova, they are currently 'not pursuing any further
activities' with her.
The International
Tennis Federation has confirmed the star will be provisionally suspended from
the sport from March 12, however, despite this, the president of the Russian
Tennis Federation has said he expects Sharapova to play in the Olympics in
Brazil in August this year.
'On 26 January
2016, Ms Sharapova provided an anti-doping sample to the TADP in association
with her participation in the 2016 Australian Open. 'That sample was analysed
by a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory, which returned a
positive for meldonium, which is a prohibited substance under the WADA Code
and, therefore also the TADP. 'In accordance with Article 8.1.1 of the TADP, Ms
Sharapova was charged on 2 March with an Anti-Doping Rule Violation. 'Ms
Sharapova has accepted the finding of meldonium in her sample collected on 26
January.
Maria Sharapova has
only played three tournaments in the last eight months after being plagued with
injury. She admitted that she did not follow an
information link that was provided. 'I take responsibility for my
professionalism in my job and I made a big mistake. I know there will be consequences
and I don't want to end my career this way. I really hope I will be given
another chance to play tennis again. I can't blame anyone but myself. I have
let my fans down. 'It made me healthy and that is why I continued to take it,'
Sharapova said of the banned substance after taking a small number of questions
from the floor.
Williams has been
far from alone in disliking the statuesque Russian, and many fans have found it
hard to take to her because of her incessant grunt-cum-wail when hitting the
ball. She could be torturously slow between points and there was also the
practice of turning her back on her opponent between every point to focus on
the next one. She is not alone – Andre Agassi considered to be one of the greatest tennis
players of all time but failed a drugs test in 1997, testing positive for
crystal methamphetamine. He was let off by the ATP with a warning after he said
he had accidentally sipped his assistant's spiked drink but later admitted, in
his autobiography after retirement, that claim was a lie. Great Britain's No 2
behind Tim Henman at the time, Rusedski tested positive for nandrolone in 2003. Five-time
Grand Slam winner Hingis tested positive for cocaine at Wimbledon in 2007 and
was banned for two years despite claiming she had never used the drug. Frenchman
Gasquet was hit with a provisional 12-month ban after testing positive for
cocaine in March 2009.
Former tennis star
Jennifer Capriati slammed here in now-deleted
Twitter posts, the 39-year-old retired player accused Sharapova of hiring
doctors to 'get around the system', adding that she 'never opted to cheat'. Capriati
then went on to insinuate that she would have been able to salvage her career,
which ended in 2004, had she resorted to taking the same drug.
The combination of
her glamorous looks, strong personality and natural business acumen, married up
with a huge tennis talent helped make her a massive success as much off the
court as on it. Sharapova's official career prize money stands not far short of
£25 million. But her personal fortune is many times that, thanks to her
voracious appetite for maximizing her worth. S a d l y, those days now look over.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
9th Mar
2016
Largely excerpted from MailOnline
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