After Canadian tennis player Eugenie Bouchard knocked Maria Sharapova out of the Madrid Masters in a three set marathon, the 23-year-old explained the importance of her win against a player she had accused of cheating.

The victory on Monday night saw Sharapova crash out of the second round as she continues her return to the WTA circuit following her suspension after being detected for using meldonium during the 2016 Australian Open, reports Xinhua news agency.

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Bouchard had been critical of the Russian in the past, even going as far as calling her a “cheat”, and admits she viewed the win as justification for her words. “I was extra motivated, I had never beaten her before and there were other circumstances,” said the Canadian in a press conference. “A lot of players had come up to me in private to wish me luck, players who I usually don’t speak to. And I also received a lot of messages from people in the world of tennis,” she said. 

The Canadian believes that these shows of support make it clear that Sharapova’s return is not popular with many of her peers. “It shows that the majority of the people have the same opinion that I have and although they are worried about speaking out in public, they will speak in private. I received a lot of support from them and that is why I was so inspired,” she commented after her 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 victory.

IANS

Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova defeated Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni here on Sunday to advance to the second round of the Madrid Open. Sharapova, now ranked 262 in the world, defeated World No.20 Lucic-Baroni 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 in the opening round.

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The Madrid Open is the second tournament for Sharapova after she returned from a 15-month doping ban. The Russian took part in the Stuttgart Open in April, but was defeated in the semi-finals against France’s Kristina Mladenovic.

Sharapova will play the second round against Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, who eliminated France’s Alize Cornet on Saturday.

IANS

Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova, currently suspended on doping-related charges, will return to the singles rankings following her performance at three tournaments next year, a senior official with the Russian Tennis Federation (RTF) said on Monday.

According to the new rankings released by the Women Tennis Association (WTA) on Monday, the former World No.1 dropped out of the global top-100 female tennis players, reports Efe.

Also Read: Sharapova’s doping ban reduced to 15 months by CAS

“Sharapova’s departure from the WTA rankings list is a matter of technical detail,” RTF Vice President Alexei Selivanenko said.

“She needs to take part in at least three tournaments in order to regain her stance in the ranking list.”

“She lost the minimal required quota (to stay in the ranking list) of three tournaments since she had not played since the beginning of this year,” Selivanenko added.

“However, she will resume playing next year and, as soon she competes in three tournaments, she will be back in the ranking list. There are no doubts that she will be granted wild cards from tournaments’ organisers and she will return to the ranking list.”

Sharapova has been allowed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to play in exhibition matches before her ban expires.

She has been serving a two-year suspension for violation of anti-doping regulations since January 26. However, the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled October 4 to reduce her suspension term from 24 to 15 months.

The right-handed player is now eligible to officially return to the tennis courts from April 26 next year.

In early March, Sharapova was told that her doping tests revealed the presence of performance enhancing drug Meldonium in her body system. Following the announcement, she was provisionally suspended from all tennis-related activities.

Sharapova filed an appeal with the CAS on June 9 against her two-year suspension, which was officially announced on June 8 by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Tribunal over anti-doping violations.

Due to the ban the silver medallist at the 2012 Olympic Games in London had to miss the 2016 Rio Games in August.

IANS

Maria Sharapova is all set to return to play tennis in April 2017. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reduced Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova’s two-year suspension over doping to 15 months.

She can return to the sport starting April 26 next year, President of the Russian Tennis Federation (RTF) Shamil Tarpishchev said, reports Tass. “It is good that the suspension term has been reduced,” Tarpishchev said. “They (CAS) decided to uphold our appeal since Sharapova is a clean athlete. “It will depend completely on her whether she will be able to return to her previous level of playing,” the RTF chief said. “However, we want her to play for the national team and win the next Olympic Games.”

Sharapova filed an appeal with the CAS on June 9 against the two-year suspension, which was imposed on June 8 by the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) tribunal over anti-doping violations. Due to the imposed ban, the former No.1 had to miss the 2016 Rio Olympics.

In early March, Sharapova announced that her doping tests revealed the presence of performance enhancing drug Meldonium in the body system. Following the announcement, she was provisionally suspended from all tennis-related activities. Sharapova hoped ITF would draw conclusions following her suspension.

“I have taken responsibility from the very beginning for not knowing that the over-the-counter supplement I had been taking for the last ten years was no longer allowed,” a statement posted on her Facebook account said. “But I also learned how much better other Federations were at notifying their athletes of the rule change, especially in Eastern Europe where Mildronate is commonly taken by millions of people.”

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“Now that this process is over, I hope the ITF and other relevant tennis anti-doping authorities will study what these other Federations did, so that no other tennis player will have to go through what I went through,” Sharapova added. The drug Meldonium was included in the list of preparations banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) from January 1, 2016.

The presence of the Meldonium in the athlete’s blood during and between competitions then became a violation of anti-doping rules. The substance belongs to S4 class on the WADA blacklist (hormones and metabolic modulators). WADA announced on April 13 that the concentration of less than one microgram of Meldonium in the body system of an athlete, whose doping tests were conducted before March 1, was acceptable.

IANS