What now for Maria Sharapova?

‘She is the sole author of her own misfortune’.

That was the damning verdict handed down by the ITF’s Independent Tribunal assembled to examine Maria Sharapova’s failed drugs test at the 2016 Australian Open. The report, which will make uncomfortable reading for both Sharapova and members of her management team, concluded that the five-time Grand Slam champion should be serve ‘a period of ineligibility of two years, commencing on 26 January 2016’.

Two years. For a professional athlete in her late twenties, that will feel like nothing short of a lifetime.

RELATED: Sharapova responds to ITF ruling on Facebook.

As thing stand, Sharapova would be back on the WTA in February 2018, but forced to play qualifying at each and every tournament she was not awarded a wildcard for (it’s hard to see major tournaments handing out wildcards to a convicted drugs cheat). At 31 she would arguably have time to work her way back towards the top of the sport, but that road will be a long and arduous one, and it’s questionable whether she will have the motivation needed to walk it.

Of course, Sharapova will appeal the ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). What’s more, if history is anything to go by she has grounds for cautious optimism. CAS reduced Viktor Troicki’s ban for refusing to take a blood test in 2013 from 18-months to twelve, and halved Marin Cilic’s suspension for unknowingly ingesting a banned stimulant in the same year.

But in many respects, the damage is already done.

Because Maria Sharapova is so much more than a tennis player; she’s a brand. A carefully crafted, international business empire. And the damage to that brand has already been catastrophic.

The fact that two of her most important sponsors, Nike and Head, have announced that they will stand by the Russian will be scant consolation. Sharapova’s star appeal has undoubtedly been dented, and whatever happens going forward she will wear the moniker of ‘doper’ for the rest of her career – both on the court and away from it.

The cost of that moniker to both her and her many businesses is incalculable.

That is the uncomfortable – and somewhat bleak – truth that now faces Maria Sharapova. Of course, she has the opportunity for redemption. But her image, her reputation, and her place in the sport will forever be tarnished.