Maria Sharapova announced this morning via her Facebook page that she will be returning to tennis in April 2017, 9 months before her initial ban was supposed to end. In the statement issued below Sharapova explains how she went to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to appeal her suspension from the ITF and they concluded that though she did take a banned substance it was not done to gaina competitive advantage. Sharapova, and the CAS investigation, puts some blame on the Russian federation with Sharapova stating “I also learned how much better other Federations were at notifying their athletes of the rule change”. .
In the 48 page report conducted by the CAS there are many detailed points there are some interesting tidbits such as”Dr. Ford Vox, a specialist in rehabilitation medicine, also notes that “there is no reliable evidence that Mildronate has any performance-enhancing properties” The entire report is pretty interesting and gives some insight into not only Maria’s unique situation but what athletes go through when it comes to doping.
