For six months Maria Sharapova has been stuck at deuce.
On Tuesday, the five-time grand slam champion will learn if she can get her tennis career back on track.
The 29-year-old tested positive for banned substance meldonium at the Australian Open in January and was subsequently banned for two years by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
Sharapova appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in June and will discover at 1500 CET whether she has been successful in overturning or reducing the sanction.
Tennis world stunned
The sport was plunged into shock when Sharapova announced at a Los Angeles press conference in March she had failed a drugs test. A provisional ban was announced by the ITF shortly after.
Sharapova said she was first prescribed meldonium, also known as mildronate, in 2006 for heart issues and was unaware it had been added to the banned substance list by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as of January 1.
She acknowledged taking it before each match she played at the Australian Open as she was knocked out of the tournament at the quarterfinal stage by her nemesis Serena Williams.
Handing down the two-year ban, an independent panel appointed by the ITF ruled Sharapova hadn’t used meldonium as a vehicle for cheating but stated the former world number one was “the sole author of her misfortune.”
But Sharapova insisted: “The ITF tribunal unanimously concluded that what I did was not intentional. The tribunal found that I did not seek treatment from my doctor for the purpose of obtaining a performance enhancing substance.
“The ITF spent tremendous amounts of time and resources trying to prove I intentionally violated the anti-doping rules and the tribunal concluded I did not.”
The two-year ban is in line with non-specified substances such as meldonium for first-time offenders who aren’t deemed to have intentionally cheated. The ITF had sought a four-year punishment.
Immediate appeal
Sharapova, who was this year unseated as the world’s richest female athlete by Serena Williams after 11 years at the top, announced instantly she would be appealing to CAS.
The former world No. 1 claimed she had been taking meldonium since 2006 for heart issues, a magnesium deficiency and because her family has a history of diabetes.
Meldonium was added to the prohibited list “because of evidence of its use by athletes with the intention of enhancing performance,” WADA said on its website.
Potential benefits include boosting endurance and aiding the recovery process. Sharapova took meldonium before matches but never declared it on doping control forms, including at the Australian Open this year. She tested positive five times for meldonium in 2015.
Sharapova said she simply failed to read an email that stated meldonium would be added to the banned list on January 1 this year. In evidence heard during the tribunal it was stated her IMG agent Max Eisenbud also failed to check.
Eisenbud was the sole member of her current entourage who knew she was taking the drug — not her coach Sven Groeneveld, physiotherapist or nutritionist — the panel heard.
Missed Olympics
Sharapova, who has continued to promote her candy company Sugarpova since being suspended, had hoped to fast track proceedings at CAS in a bid to make the Rio Olympics.
With the ITF she had agreed to an ”expedited procedure” which was due to see CAS’s verdict delivered in July. But CAS moved that back to September to give both parties more time.
In the wake of the revelations racket provider Head stood by her, but other sponsors distanced themselves, including watch maker Tag Heuer. Despite the ruling, Nike backed Sharapova.
If she doesn’t overturn or reduce the sanction, then Sharapova’s ban will end on January 25, 2018, by which time she’d have missed eight grand slam tournaments.