Sharapova fails drug test

[britbox]

Thoughts?

 

[Federberg]

It might offer a better explanation of why she was caught, but doesn't fully absolve her in my view. I'm not convinced this was being taken for non-PED reasons

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Maria reminds ITF folks, how beautiful she is, just in case they have forgotten.

 

[isabelle]

Maria reminds ITF folks, how beautiful she is, just in case they have forgotten.

A beautiful cheater

 

[Kieran]

Dang! I'd give her time off for good behaviour! :snicker

 

[GameSetAndMath]

She is not even required to be present in the preliminary hearing I believe. However, most probably she would have been present.

There is no deliberation phase after the preliminary hearing. So, I don't know why we have not seen any announcement yet. It should be coming in a day or two.

The preliminary hearing ends once a deal is reached (or they realize that they cannot reach a deal) and so there is no deliberation after the preliminary hearing.

 

[tossip]

there is no way they are going to allow her to play Olympics otherwise all those Russian atheletes will ask for 6months.She will get 18months..
just from her recent pictures its clear that pova is a brunette...she was fooling everybody.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

It looks like all deals are off and there will be a hearing by a tribunal. This is not a confirmed news and just a rumor. The president of the Russian tennis federation, himself a banned guy (over Williams brothers fiasco), says the hearings in the Sharapova case are likely to be in june.

 

[10isfan]

Thanks for keeping us informed, GSM. I am guessing that Pova is fighting to clear herself of any wrongdoing. If she accepts a ban, she is accepting responsibility for doping/cheating. That is something that will stay with her forever, and possibly keep her out of HOF. She must have decided that she will risk it all so that she can regain her reputation.

I can't predict the outcome of this case. I do, however, believe she screwed up the day she took that first dose of Meldonium. She has no conscience. How could she sleep at night, knowing she played with the help of a PED which could have robbed her opponents of trophies sitting on her shelf? What a self-centered low life. She deserves all this negative press.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

According to this Fox Sports analyst's calculation even if Maria wins in the hearing she will effectively lose as she will most probably cannot play Wimbledon or Olympics.

 

[tossip]

According to this Fox Sports analyst's calculation even if Maria wins in the hearing she will effectively lose as she will most probably cannot play Wimbledon or Olympics.

tghere is no winning here because her reputation has been ruined...well she got the money she wanted and paid a price for it..imagine all those little blonde girls that emulated her including Genie.... she disappointed a lot of her fans..
money is not everything....character is everything....now she is hooking up with an older well known drunk.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

According to this Fox Sports analyst's calculation even if Maria wins in the hearing she will effectively lose as she will most probably cannot play Wimbledon or Olympics.

tghere is no winning here because her reputation has been ruined...well she got the money she wanted and paid a price for it..imagine all those little blonde girls that emulated her including Genie.... she disappointed a lot of her fans..
money is not everything....character is everything....now she is hooking up with an older well known drunk.

Genie is trying to emulate Maria in more than one way. Rumors are that she is dating Grigor now. :hug

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Thanks for keeping us informed, GSM. I am guessing that Pova is fighting to clear herself of any wrongdoing. If she accepts a ban, she is accepting responsibility for doping/cheating. That is something that will stay with her forever, and possibly keep her out of HOF. She must have decided that she will risk it all so that she can regain her reputation.

From the way you are saying it, it looks as though she thinks she is completely innocent and trying to prove her self-righteousness to everyone in the world.

But, I doubt it. She would surely know that what she was doing is morally wrong before even though it became illegal only since 1st Jan. 2016. However, I would give it a possibility (and even highly likely) that when she was started on this stuff, she did not know what she was taking. She probably started taking it along with milk from when she was very young. At that age, you cannot blame her for it, but only her team. But, once she is old enough to know right from wrong, she bears the responsibility.

My feeling is that ITF would have offered her an year ban and that was not acceptable to Maria and her team. They are probably calculating that the punishment (even if she could not win her case) cannot be considerably worse than the deal they offered (as it is all about the art of muddying the waters here) and so it is worth fighting (and not because they think they are right and want to prove to the world that they are right).

 

[Kieran]

Maria has already admitted she did wrong, so there'll be no "deal". She has nothing to bargain with, to make a deal. She failed the test, and accepted the result. All she can do is plead for clemency, based upon "ignorance." I don't see how this stands any chance of holding up.

She'll get 18 months to 2 years...

 

[GameSetAndMath]

According to this Fox Sports analyst's calculation even if Maria wins in the hearing she will effectively lose as she will most probably cannot play Wimbledon or Olympics.

I don't agree with this person's timeline. The ban started mid-March, not late January. A six month ban would knock her out of the Olympics. What do you think, GSM?

Yes, some things he says are wrong.

Any punishment (in terms of ban) will take effect retroactively from 12th March when her provisional suspension began. It will not be retroactive from Jan 26h, the day of the notorious test after her loss to Serena at AO. It is true that Maria did not play a single match from Jan 26th, but that is due to her personal choice (due to forearm injure etc). In fact, she came to know that she tested positive only on March 2nd, when the notice is served.

She is definitely out of RG. With Wimbledon beginning on June 27th, she can play in it only if the punishment is less than 3.5 months (highly unlikely) and the verdict is delivered before the start of Wimbledon. With Olympics beginning on Aug 6th, she can play only if the ban is 5 months or less (possible but unlikely). Even if her ban is just six months (likely scenario), the ban wound end on Sep. 11th. Incidentally, that is the day when USO ends. So, she is almost sure to miss RG, Wimby, Olympics and USO for this year.

The funny thing is that due to the way tennis calendar works, there is not much difference in effect as to whether she gets 6 months ban or 1 year ban (just one more slam missed).

The only thing interesting that is said in that article is that they might be wary of giving some ban which is already over (due to retroactive timeline) by the time they announce. It will look like eye-wash to the people who don't check details and so they may try to avoid that.

 

[10isfan]

Maria has already admitted she did wrong, so there'll be no "deal". She has nothing to bargain with, to make a deal. She failed the test, and accepted the result. All she can do is plead for clemency, based upon "ignorance." I don't see how this stands any chance of holding up.

She'll get 18 months to 2 years...

Since WADA already stated that a one year ban is appropriate punishment, this is the maximum. ITF might go with 9 months, hoping WADA does not challenge the verdict. In any case, playing in the Olympics seems nearly impossible, which is probably the biggest disappointment for her.

 

[PaintMaria]

To take a drug for 10 years could suggest dependency or addiction.

 

[PaintMaria]

This is a big deal. I believe she took the risk which was a mistake in itself. :nono A professional athlete of her caliber knew the risk. She deserves a 2 year ban minimum. Really surprised that she would put her career and endorsements in jeopardy like that. Her decision to take this drug reeks of desperation.

"Desperation" = addiction ?

 

[PaintMaria]

Even before my good friend Tossip (I hope she considers me a friend), there has always been a very low opinion of Pova's character especially from females. Being a man who has daughters, I never had an opinion about her character good or bad. I actually likes the way she competes especially when she is not facing Serena. I think she darn well knew that she was taking a banned substance but she needed something she felt could help level the playing field against Serena. She was Wrong.Hopefully now Serena will get some of her endorsements because we all know the reason Why but I don't this will change the minds of advertising .This is truly "Maria Fall from Grace".

you know I was banned from several boards for posting my observations during Wimbledon final 2004...just before the match she took a potty break and on her way to the toilet the camera caught her popping a pill into hr mouth.I was vilified and banned from several boards.2006 USA Open she took something right in front of the camera from a little brown bottle and ESPN jokingly said its some elixir from Yuri...her eyes were glassy like she was high and some posters said thats a reaction of someone on amphetamines...never been a fan and my feelings were spot on and intuition was correct.

Wow. She might have had to take Meldonium to help her heart cope with the effects of the other drugs she was taking.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

She's on vacation in Mexico with Ms Handler.