PANAMA : Tomas Berdych won apology

PRAGUE: Czech tennis star Tomas Berdych won an apology on Saturday from the public Czech News Agency (CTK) which had alleged his name had appeared in the Panama Papers. “We apologise to Mr Tomas Berdych for having wrongly stated… his name was given in the Panama Papers database,” CTK wrote. World No 7 Berdych, 30, had vehemently denied the allegations which he called “crazy,” and after receiving the apology, he tweeted: “Truth prevails.” Shedding light on international tax fraud, the Panama Papers published this week have mentioned top athletes including Lionel Messi, side by side with a host of politicians, actors and other celebrities.

UN suspends Sharapova as goodwill ambassador

The United Nations has suspended Maria Sharapova as a goodwill ambassador after she failed a drug test at the Australian Open, the latest fall from grace for the Russian tennis star.

Sharapova had been a goodwill ambassador for the UN Development Programme for the past nine years, and had been active in helping recovery efforts after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

“The United Nations Development Programme remains grateful to Maria Sharapova for her support of our work, especially around the Chernobyl nuclear disaster recovery,” said a spokesperson.

“However, in light of Ms. Sharapova’s recent announcement, we last week suspended her role as a Goodwill Ambassador and any planned activities while the investigation continues.”

“We wish Ms. Sharapova the best,” she added.

Former world number one Sharapova announced last week that she failed a drug test at the Australian Open in January.

Sharapova tested positive for meldonium, which was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list on January 1.

US sportswear giant Nike, German luxury car maker Porsche and Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer have all halted their relationship with the former world number one.

Sharapova has made visits to Belarus as goodwill ambassador and donated $100,000 to support youth projects in rural areas that suffer from the after-affects of the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

Sharapova’s family fled the city of Gomel in Belarus in 1987 after the Chernobyl disaster, moving to Siberia where the tennis star was born.

The family lived in Nyagan, Siberia for two years and then moved to Sochi on the Black Sea where Sharapova took her first tennis lessons.

SKYSPORTS

Novak Djokovic says he hopes Maria Sharapova emerges from her current situation "stronger" after the former women's world No 1 failed a drugs test at the Australian Open.

Sharapova told a press conference on Monday that she had tested positive for meldonium, which was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned substances on January 1.

"I obviously wish her all the best," said Djokovic, who shares a racquet sponsor with the Russian and has famously done impressions of her on court.

"I've known her for a long time. I feel for her with all that's happening and I just hope she gets out of this stronger."

Chris Evert has expressed surprise at the lack of support within tennis for Sharapova.

The predominant response has been shock at how one of tennis' most professional and meticulous players could fail to take notice of warnings that a drug she had been taking for 10 years had been added to the banned list.

There have been some messages of support, with Sharapova's great rival Serena Williams praising her courage in taking responsibility for her mistake.

But others have been less charitable. Three-time Grand Slam champion Jennifer Capriati wrote on Twitter: "I had to lose my career and never opted to cheat, no matter what. I had to throw in the towel and suffer.

"I didn't have the high priced team of drs that found a way for me to cheat and get around the system and wait for science to catch up."

Evert, who won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, told ESPN: "Maria Sharapova has always isolated herself from the rest of the tennis world. She's made that known, she can't be friends with the players.

"I'm not seeing a lot of support from a lot of the players. I think everyone is being mum right now.

"Whether it's shock or whether they don't want to become involved or have an opinion about it, it's surprising that not a lot of players have shown their support for her."

Sharapova has accepted a provisional suspension and will find out after a tribunal hearing in due course what sanction she faces.

The Russian admitted she received a link to the list of banned substances for 2016 in December but did not click on it.

Evert added: "It's just incredulous to me because she has such a very comprehensive and a very professional team. For everybody in the tennis world, Maria Sharapova is the last person we'd expect this to happen to.

"To me, it's a good warning to all the superstars out there that they mean serious business and that the sport is not protecting you if you're bringing in money for the sport, if you're bringing in TV ratings - it doesn't matter who you are."

The Russian has seen major sponsors Nike, Tag Heuer and Porsche all quickly distance themselves from her.

The International Tennis Federation, meanwhile, confirmed Sharapova missed five opportunities in December alone to learn that meldonium had become a banned substance.

Documents detailing the prohibited substances for 2016 were distributed to players on December 3 and posted on the ITF website four days later.

On December 11 the WTA notified players that the documents were available while the ITF provided players with a link to them on December 22 - the one Sharapova failed to click on.

Then on December 29, the WTA sent another reminder of the availability of the documents to players.

Sharapova said at her press conference that she had been prescribed meldonium for 10 years by her family doctor because of health issues such as an irregular heartbeat and a history of diabetes in her family.

It was put on the banned list by the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2016 due to "evidence of its use by athletes with the intention of enhancing performance".

Sharapova failed Drug Test

Sharapova, 28, tested positive for meldonium, a substance she has been taking since 2006 for health issues.
The five-time Grand Slam champion is provisionally suspended from 12 March pending further action.

The sportswear company, Nike, announced that it was halting its relationship with the player until the investigation is complete.
"I did fail the test and take full responsibility for it," said Sharapova, who won the Wimbledon title as a 17-year-old in 2004.
"For the past 10 years I have been given a medicine called mildronate by my family doctor and a few days ago after I received a letter from the ITF [International Tennis Federation] I found out it also has another name of meldonium, which I did not know."
Sharapova's lawyer, John Haggerty, told Sports Illustrated he was attempting to speak to the ITF because "we think there is a laundry list of extremely mitigating circumstances that once taken into consideration would result in dramatically reducing any sanction that they might want to impose on Maria".

Test failed on day of Williams defeat

Sharapova, who lives in Florida, provided the anti-doping sample in question on 26 January, the day she lost to Serena Williams in the Australian Open quarter-finals.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) analysed the sample and returned a positive for meldonium, leading to the Russian being charged on 2 March.
"It is very important for you to understand that for 10 years this medicine was not on Wada's banned list and I had been legally taking that medicine for the past 10 years," said Sharapova.
"But on 1 January the rules had changed and meldonium became a prohibited substance, which I had not known."
She added: "I received an email on 22 December from Wada about the changes happening to the banned list and you can see prohibited items - and I didn't click on that link."

'I made a huge mistake'

Sharapova has been the highest-earning female athlete in the world in each of the past 11 years, according to the Forbes list. Her career earnings from tennis alone amount to almost £26m.
She first reached world number one in August 2005 and is currently seventh in the rankings - but she has played just four tournaments since Wimbledon last July as she struggled with an arm injury.
Nike, which has long sponsored her, released a statement early on Tuesday saying: ""We are saddened and surprised by the news about Maria Sharapova.
"We have decided to suspend our relationship with Maria while the investigation continues."
Sharapova, who turns 29 in April, hopes to be able to return to tennis in the future.
"I made a huge mistake," she said. "I have let my fans down, and let the sport down that I have been playing since the age of four that I love so deeply.
"I know that with this I face consequences and I don't want to end my career this way. I really hope to be given another chance to play this game."

What the Sharapova camp is saying

Haggerty said Sharapova started to take meldonium after her doctor did "an extensive battery of tests to determine what medical conditions were causing her to be sick on a frequent basis".
She had "abnormal electrocardiogram readings" and "some diabetes indicators", which prompted the doctor to recommend medication, including meldonium.
He added: "She took it on a regular basis as recommended by her doctor. He told her what to take and when to take it, and then continued to test her and confirm that it was giving her the desired improved medical condition."
Wada placed meldonium on its monitoring programme in 2015 before adding it to the banned list this year "because of evidence of its use by athletes with the intention of enhancing performance".
Haggerty said: "Regrettably, when they added this to the ban list on 1 January of this year, she did not pick that up."

What happens now?

Sharapova could apply for a retroactive therapeutic use exemption (TUE).
A TUE allows a player to use a banned substance, without committing an anti-doping rule violation, if they have a medical condition that requires it.
Sharapova's lawyer Haggerty added that she has waived the testing of a B sample.

How long could she be banned for?

Up to four years, according to Tennis Anti-Doping Programme and Wada guidelines.
But Jeff Tarango, Sharapova's former coach and an ex-Tour professional, said he doubted she would be banned for that long.
"I think it immediately falls under two years but with these circumstances probably one year," the American told BBC Radio 5 live.
"She can apply for a TUE. If it really is something she had to take for her heart and diabetes then it falls under a TUE.
"If it is something where her heart in 120C weather would just give out without taking this then I'd rather she took it."

Has anyone else been suspended for a doping violation?

Several high-profile Tour players have been suspended for anti-doping violations - including Marin Cilic, Viktor Troicki and Barbora Strycova, who all had the length of their bans later reduced.
However, each of these offences were committed under different circumstances to Sharapova's case.
The ban for 2014 US Open champion Cilic, for taking a glucose tablet bought at a pharmacy in France, was reduced from nine to four months in October 2013.
Troicki was suspended for 12 months on appeal after refusing to take a blood test at a tournament in Monte Carlo in 2013, claiming he was feeling unwell and had a phobia of needles.
Also in 2013, Czech player Strycova was given a back-dated six-month ban after saying a banned stimulant entered her system via a weight-loss supplement.
Former Grand Slam winners Martina Hingis and Andre Agassi are among those who have been previously banned for testing positive for recreational drugs.

Was this news a surprise?

Completely. There had been speculation Sharapova was going to announce her retirement at a Los Angeles news conference, which was streamed live online.
"I know many of you thought that I would be retiring today but if I was ever going to announce my retirement it would not be in a downtown Los Angeles hotel with this fairly ugly carpet," she said.
What is meldonium?
It is meant for angina patients but athletes like it because it helps their endurance and ability to recover from big efforts.
It is on the banned list now because Wada started seeing it in lots of samples and found it does have performance-enhancing properties. It was then added to Wada's 'watchlist' for over a year. The decision to ban it was communicated last autumn and it was added to the banned list on 1 January.
Made in Latvia, it is widely available - without prescription and at low cost - in many east European countries but it is not licensed in most western countries, including the United States.
It is widely thought that hundreds of athletes have been using it and there are a lot more cases in the pipeline.

'Hammer blow to the sport'

BBC tennis commentator Andrew Castle said: "After the betting revelations, this Sharapova news is a hammer blow to the sport.
"Wada issue their list of banned substances and you don't look? Nor do management?"
Without naming Sharapova, three-time Grand Slam singles champion Jennifer Capriati said she was "extremely angry and disappointed" and "never opted to cheat no matter what".
The American, whose own career was ended by injury, added: "If this medication helped me to come back again would everyone be all right with me taking it?
"In my opinion, if it's all true every title should be stripped. This is other people's lives as well."
Women's Tennis Association (WTA) president Steve Simon said he is "very saddened" at Sharapova's failed test.
"Maria is a leader and I have always known her to be a woman of great integrity," he added.
"As Maria acknowledged, it is every player's responsibility to know what they put in their body and to know if it is permissible.
"This matter is now in the hands of the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme and its standard procedures. The WTA will support the decisions reached through this process."

Eighteen-time Grand Slam singles champion Martina Navratilova

Brad Gilbert coached world number two Andy Murray from July 2006 to November 2007

Former athlete Kelly Sotherton, who won bronze in the heptathlon at the 2004 Olympics, also said it was "refreshing" that Sharapova took full responsibility for the failed test but "can only blame herself".