Nike has suspended its relationship with Maria Sharapova hours after she admitted she had tested positive for a banned substance at January's Australian Open.
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| Maria Sharapova, pictured, has announced she failed a drugs test at the 2016 Australian Open after testing positive for Meldonium |
The
five-times Grand Slam champion dropped the bombshell at a press
conference at a Los Angeles hotel, confessing she had been caught out by
tennis's anti-doping operation on Monday night.
The
highest earning athlete in any female sport said that she had been
found to have taken Mildronate – or Meldonium – which was prohibited
from January 1 this year.
The International Tennis Federation has
confirmed the star will be provisionally suspended from the sport from
March 12.
However,
despite this, the president of the Russian Tennis Federation has said
he expects Sharapova to play in the Olympics in Brazil in August this
year.
As a sign of
what the scandal could mean for Sharapova's mass of endorsements, just
hours later, she lost her most lucrative deal - an eight-year contract
extended in 2010 for a reported $70million with sportswear brand Nike,
where she has her own clothing line.
In
a statement, the company said: 'We are saddened and surprised by the
news about Maria Sharapova. We have decided to suspend our relationship
with Maria while the investigation continues. We will continue to
monitor the situation.'
She earns $30million a year in endorsements, according to Forbes. Current endorsements include American Express, Avon, Evian, Porsche, Tag Heuer.
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| Sharapova pictured in happier times with the French Open Trophy by the Eiffel Tower in Paris after winning the 2014 tournament |
At a press
conference which many assumed would be to announce her retirement after a
spate of injuries, she delivered what is catastrophic news for her, the
sport and women's tennis in particular.
'I
had legally been taking this for ten years,' said Sharapova, who
conceded that she had received a notification from the International
Tennis Federation on December 22 that it was being outlawed. She
admitted that she did not follow an information link that was provided.
'I
take responsibility for my professionalism in my job and I made a big
mistake. I know there will be consequences and I don't want to end my
career this way. I really hope I will be given another chance to play
tennis again. I can't blame anyone but myself. I have let my fans down.
'I
know many of you thought I was retiring but if I was ever going to
announce my retirement it would probably not be in a downtown Lost
Angeles hotel with this fairly ugly carpet.'
'It
made me healthy and that is why I continued to take it,' Sharapova said
of the banned substance after taking a small number of questions from
the floor.
'I
am still working through my injury and that is the reason I withdrew
from Palm Springs, because I have still not healed my injury
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