Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova has had her two-year doping ban reduced to 15 months by the court of arbitration for sports after an International Tennis Federation initial ban in June.
The five-time grand slam winner took to her Facebook page to express that she has learnt from her travails and she also takes full responsibility for not knowing that the over the counter supplement, Meldonium she had been using for more than 10years might have contained an ingredient that was no longer allowed by the ITF. She also took responsibility for the drug being in her system during the Australian Open.
She goes on to add that the ITF should learn from other sporting federations that had been notifying athletes about things like this. Although her ban was issued in June, it was deemed to have started on the 26th of January 2016, the day she failed the test for the recently banned drug, Meldonium after losing to Serena in the quarter-final of the Australian Open.
The reduction in her ban could mean that Sharapova might return to compete in the French Open in May 2017.
