Does anyone else wonder if Maria Sharapova is playing her doping scandal the wrong way? Before she was given a two-year ban for doping, she was already pap-strolling and attending the Met Gala like nothing happened. And now after the ban, she’s acting like she was treated unfairly for making an honest mistake. And the pap strolls keep on coming – these photos are from a few days ago, when Maria was out and about in Beverly Hills. Currently, Maria is appealing her two-year ban and she hopes that the ban will be thrown out in time for her to compete at the Rio Olympics. And she’s still playing the victim too – when the president of the World Anti-Doping Agency made a crack about how WADA’s budget is less than Maria’s yearly salary, Sharapova’s lawyer demanded an apology.
The boss of the doping agency that took down Maria Sharapova is gloating after the Russian tennis star was suspended two years for testing positive for meldonium. Craig Reedie, the president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said Monday he took more pride in the ban because Sharapova’s salary exceeds the budget of WADA.
“For me the only satisfactory element in Madame Sharapova’s case was that in one year she can earn more money than the whole of WADA’s budget put together,” Reedie said, via The Telegraph.
Reedie said WADA was “punching above its weight” on a budget of less than $30 million a year. In 2015, Sharapova raked in $29.7 million, according to Forbes.
Sharapova’s camp wasn’t too thrilled with the apparent boast, and fired back with three caustic lines.
“The statement made today by the WADA president is unprofessional. Justice, whether in the eyes of WADA or a court, must be blind, including being blind to a player’s earnings,” said a statement attributed to Sharapova’s attorney John Haggerty. “Mr. Reedie owes an apology to Maria and to all successful tennis players unless he wants fans to think WADA has different standards for players depending on their ranking and earnings.”
I don’t get it? Why should Reedie have to apologize? He didn’t say that they went after Sharapova BECAUSE she’s rich. He was making a point about the shoestring budget (??) of WADA, and how WADA has to do the best they can even though they’re dealing with some incredibly wealthy athletes who could bury them in legal papers, excuses, lawsuits and more. So is Maria Sharapova trying to say that we should feel sorry for her because she’s rich? And is that really the “sympathy card” Maria wants to play? I can’t help but feel that she is incredibly unlikeable.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
Maria, they didn’t go after you because you’re rich. They went after you because you cheated! She needs to quit with the excuses.
Agreed! And I imagine she keeps up with the pap strolls because she thinks it will show her sponsors that she can get continued visibility? But it’s stupid because it’s really not the right kind. Sht got caught, she needs to suck it up and deal.
Yeah, that’s very Lance-esque of her. I don’t follow her but the more I read about her the more unlikeable I find her.
Gosh she’s not taking responsibility for her actions…SHOCKED I TELL YOU.
Maria sit down and shut up. You wouldn’t be in this position if you didn’t cheat.
What was this heartless thug doing with ‘heart medication’?. He should apologize to her unconditionally ‘I’m really sorry that you cheated’.
Naah – just because she’s stupid and doesn’t keep herself updated on the banned substances
But why was she taking the banned substance? To enhance her performance. It’s medication for a heart condition she doesn’t have.
She was taking it since she was a child, it was never a secret. She had seen numerous Dr.s. The only reason they banned this drug was because they found way too many players were on it, Americans,Europeans… who didn’t have medical issues. Their names were not given. This drug is not made to enhance performance, its oxygen for your blood,depending on the amount u take. The only problem I have with her ban is up to 3 weeks before it was OK to use it n then not. Cough medicine is banned. Do I think its unfair, no n yes. 2 yes in tennis is a career ender. Maria had been struggling with injuries, its not like she was dominating to say it helped her.
Meldonium has been very popular among athletes, and it was banned because it very likely helps to enhance performance (it’s aids in recovery, allowing athletes to train more, longer, which is still absolutely performance enhancing) It’s an Olympic year, there’s NO way Maria or her team didn’t keep up on updates to the Banned List, ESPECIALLY considering the intense scrutiny that the Russian Federation is under. It’s absurd to claim that she’s had an underlying heart condition for years that no one knew about, and that she gets it all the way from Russia (that she didn’t even have an Rx for) despite the fact that she lives and trains in the US. She just gambled that she wouldn’t get caught.
@Bridget: the drug is not available in the us. It’s not fda approved. She would have no recourse but to get it from Russia, or any other country where it’s legal.
My point was more that she could have a comparable medication prescribed here in the US, where she actually lives and trains.
I’m guessing it wasn’t stupidity but arrogance behind her actions.
So. Incredibly. Unlikable.
She’s the Piper of tennis.
Unrepentant spoiled cheater.
She is so self entitled. A ridiculous woman and athlete. A drug cheat. One wonders what her ability would be without the drug she was taking. Probably mediocre.
Russian Track & Field athletes banned from this year’s Olympics in Rio due to widespread, endemic, state-sponsored doping. It was part of the culture of the sport in her country of origin (when she started doping). Wonder if there are any ties to the players in both these sagas.
Anyway, she’s going to lose her appeal. The committee flat out said it’s her fault, she lied by omission her entire career, and she took the drug solely to gain a performance-enhancing advantage. I wonder how much she can get for endorsing a new perfume about to hit the market: De Lusion.
–TheRealPinky
DeLusion, lol. Don’t give anyone any ideas, though. 🙁
I don’t get why Russia would sponsor/encourage all this doping if they know they’re going to get caught, it’s frowned upon, and/or it doesn’t help their reputations in any way? Is winning that important?
They hoped they weren’t going to get caught, and there was a very real culture of fear and intimidation coming from the top. Not only have there been several high profile Russian dopers caught, but the real nail in the coffin was that a couple of whistleblowers stepped forward. I hope that people understand and appreciate that those whistleblowers are putting themselves in very real danger – there have been a lot of suspicious deaths associated with the Russian federation.
It seems absurd, doesn’t it? My take is that the Russian Federation was arrogant enough to think “surely they won’t ban the ENTIRE team!” and the IOC called their bluff and did it.
They probably paid a lot of money to the IOC.
“He didn’t say that they went after Sharapova BECAUSE she’s rich”
thats true but he still shouldnt have worded it like that. still no sympathy for her.
If he would have said Serena or Djoko made more money than them, people would act so different. Martina Thing as, McEnroe,Aggassi n many more are caught but no action were taken. Tennis hides its results especially the big names cause it is so pretentious that they cover it up for their image.
Don’t forget beautiful. Yeah, they totally went for her because of that, too. What a delusional dipshit.
Oh, dear Maria, are there athletes competing at your level in your sport who aren’t rich? You flunked a drug test. You cheated. That’s why they went after you.
No dopey they went after you because you are a cheat.
I agree. “she is incredibly unlikeable. “
Maria, when in a hole, stop digging. She should have known that if the drug was banned in her country of residence that there were issues. Whether it was banned for most of the time she was using it (which it wasn’t) it should have given her thought. And the lies she told when caught condemned her from her own mouth.
I blame this arrogant attitude on her sponsors that pour money on her. They are supporting an officially proven cheater. If all her sponsors had dropped her when the news hit she’d be singing another tune but Head, Adidas and Evian just waited for an excuse to keep her and I think her bikini pap pics were the excuse.
Morons!
They were only protecting their investment. IMO.
It’s Nike that Maria has an endorsement deal with, not Adidas, and they’re keeping her on, just like they did with Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods.
Spoiled brat.
Just take responsibility for your actions and stop trying to blame other people. If, and that’s a big if, she really didn’t know, that’s unfortunate, but still her fault. Remember the American woman who was disqualified from the British dog show because she gave her dog a reward treat, which is allowed in the U.S. but not Great Britain? That was unfortunate, too. And it was her fault. She should have found out. There’s nothing hard about this.
ITA, GNAT. If she didn’t know (and I agree that is not a given), it’s unfortunate, but still her fault. She won’t admit that, and it makes her look petulant.
So how did she explain to herself that she couldn’t get the substance in the US even before it was banned?
Did they go after her cause she’s rich? Of course they did. Poor people aren’t winning Wimbledon with banned substances.
Seriously stupid argument: The tennis federation is full of wealthy athletes. There are no poor professional tennis players, not at Sharapova’s level. And if you weren’t making money off your cheating, then why should the federation care? The point is to ban folks using these substances to reach the highest levels. So of course, they’re banning rich folks.
Doesn’t mean it isn’t deserved and fair justice. A cheater with money is still a cheater, whether the powers that be are jealous of her money or not. So the ban is right.
Sharapova needs to count her blessings she didn’t suffer a worse fate and stfu.
She is just so whiny and wrong on this. WADA tests plenty of barely scraping by athletes in tons of non-revenue Olympic sports every year. And apparently they do this on less money than she earns in a year.
Poor Rich White Girl
The anti doping people went after her because she was doping. She’s completely unrepentant.
Keep on being entitled and unlikeable, Maria!
No Maria. They went after you because you’re a cheat and a fraud. End of story.
I like that dress that is all
Zero sympathy for Sharadopa. It’s her fault for not reading her e-mails and not realizing meldonium was now on the banned list. Everyone else knew but her? Yeah right. I hope her sentence isn’t reduced, it would send a poor message to the rest of the cheaters out there. She can keep on crying until 2018.
Having said all this, WADA is an utterly toothless, worthless organization. There is mounting evidence they ignored the Russian doping scandal for years and did nothing about it until this year which is conveniently an Olympics year. It was brought to them in 2012 but they didn’t ban the Russian athletes until 2016. WADA officials have been sent questions by U.S. Senators demanding answers as to why they ignored Russian doping for so long (the U.S. is one of the main contributors to WADA’s funding).
Sharadopa, LOL!
Arrogant. Reeks of privilege. Totally agree with the “Piper of Tennis” comments above.
OH PLEASE!