Serena Williams Supports Sharapova As Sponsors Nike, Porsche And Tag-Heuer Bail

Maria Sharapova has had a rough 24 hours since announcing she’d failed a drug test during the Australian Open, with sponsors Nike, Porsche and Tag-Heuer all pulling their endorsements of the tennis star.

She still has some support from Serena Williams at least.

The Women’s World number one – and, let’s face it, best tennis player on the planet – said Sharapova “showed a lot of courage” in revealing she had kept taking meldonium after it was added to the banned substance list on January 1, 2016. (Sharapova knew it as Mildronate.)

“I just hope for the best for everyone in that situation,” Williams added diplomatically.

According to the BBC, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has announced that Sharapova will be provisionally suspended from March 12. She is facing a four-year ban for taking meldonium.

The exit of sponsors Nike, Porsche and Tag-Heuer will be a massive blow to Sharapova, who has been the highest-earning female athlete in the world for 11 consecutive years.

While Tag-Heuer has flat-out refused to extend her contract, Nike is simply ending their association while investigations are underway (though, experts don’t have high hopes of Sharapova getting off).

Porsche is postponing their planned marketing activities with Sharapova. Another sponsor, Evian, is waiting to see how the investigation plays out. (Spoiler Alert: It will probably play out poorly.)

At a press conference to make the results of her drug test public, Sharapova argued that she had been taking Mildronate for ten years - during which time it was legal - to treat her magnesium deficiency and to prevent diabetes.

Experts are now disputing the need for a healthy athlete to take the drug in general, but also for such a lengthy period of time. More commonly, treatment of meldonium takes about 4-6 weeks.

Holes are also being poked in her claim that she simply – and accidentally – neglected to notice that it had been added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) 2016 Prohibited List, given that it’s a 569-word document (so, basically, a touch longer than this article you just finished reading).

More news as it develops.

Photo: Nike.