Maria Sharapova Looks To Re-sign With Nike
Maria Sharapova could be given the opportunity to re-sign an endorsement deal with Nike in the wake of her ban from professional tennis for taking a performance-enhancing substance.
The 28-year-old tennis champion held a lucrative eight-year multi-million dollar deal with the sports brand, which was suspended after she failed a drugs test at the Australian Open in January, meaning she is now banned from the sport.
Maria Sharapova For Nike
However, the sportswear giant is willing to give her a second chance because she has admitted she made an unintentional mistake.
Speaking to Fortune, Trevor Edwards – the global brand head of Nike – said:
“Each time those situations happen, you are saddened and disappointed. At the same time, there are many athletes that inspire us.
“At the end of the day, athletes are humans just like the rest of us, and they have the same frailties that the rest of us have. And sometimes those moments become teaching moments.”
Maria admitted to taking the anti-ischemic drug Meldonium – used to increase blood flow to the heart – but claimed she had been legally prescribed it in 2006 by her family doctor to help with her health issues.
However, the drug was outlawed by the World Anti-Doping agency for enhancing performance in January 2016 and she has subsequently been banned from the International Tennis Federation as of last Saturday.
Speaking of her suspension, she said:
“It is very important for you to understand that for 10 years this medicine was not on Wada’s banned list and I had legally been taking the medicine for the past 10 years.
“But on January 1, the rules had changed and Meldonium became a prohibited substance, which I had not known.
“I was given this medicine by my doctor for several health issues that I was having in 2006. Throughout my long career I have been very open and honest about many things and I take great responsibility and professionalism in my job every single day and I made a huge mistake.”
It will be interesting to see how Sharapova navigates the road ahead. If – or when – she returns to the professional circuit, she will no doubt face the similar stigma that others such as Richard Gasquet, Marin Cilic and Viktor Troicki who not only lost prize money but suffered through ranking points and personal embarrassment. But do we sympathise with ‘cheats’?
As Maria shifts the blame to her doctor, we have to ask whose responsibility it is to monitor what substances go in to an athletes body in terms of their compliance to the changing rules of the sports they are ultimately a member of.
In the wake of the Essendon Football Club scandal, how do we, the fans deal with our support for athletes who ‘unintentionally’ or ‘consequently’ break the doping codes? After the penalty is dealt with, can we forgive and move on, or can we not forget?
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