WTA hopes to learn from Sharapova case

Tennis must raise its game to ensure cases like Maria Sharapova’s do not happen again, Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) CEO Steve Simon said on Tuesday after an arbitration hearing reduced the Russian’s ban for doping.

Simon told Reuters that the WTA, while not the governing body, also had a duty to give players clear and specific notifications about changes to the list of banned substances.

“Nothing positive comes from a positive drug test for anybody involved and we need to make sure that we are doing everything we can to make sure that everybody is educated and something like this never happens again,” he said in a telephone interview from China.

“I think that we have to … take this experience and say we need to be better than this.

“We have to look at the reasons that CAS overturned the decision and improve upon it. I think the ITF is committed to doing that and I know the WTA is. It’s part of the process and we need to take an honest look at everything and make sure we’re doing it better.”

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) had earlier reduced a ban imposed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) from two years to 15 months, allowing former world No.1 Sharapova to return on 26 April.

The 29-year-old was handed the ban after a positive test for meldonium, which was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) list of banned substances at the start of the year.

Sharapova admitted taking the drug during the season’s opening Grand Slam event in Melbourne in January but said she had been unaware that it had been banned.

While reducing the sanction, the CAS found that the player “bore some degree of fault” – but less than “significant fault” – through relying on agent Max Eisenbud to check the prohibited list for changes and failing to ensure he had done so.

Simon said Sharapova, who will now have to rebuild her ranking, had acted “with a very high level of integrity through this whole process” and it was clear there had been no intention to cheat.

“I think the process was comprehensive, independent and fair and that we support the decision that came out of it,” he added of the CAS ruling.

“We certainly very much look forward to Maria being back on the court next Spring. And I think that the game and everybody will certainly welcome her back.”