TENNIS – Maria Sharapova, appena ricevuta la notizia della squalifica di 2 anni da parte del tribunale dell’ITF per la positività al meldonium di fine gennaio, ha pubblicato a sua volta un post su Facebook dove annuncia di preparare il ricorso in appello e specifica qualche dettaglio su quanto avvenuto nelle due udienze del 18-19 maggio.

Today with their decision of a two year suspension, the ITF tribunal unanimously concluded that what I did was not intentional. The tribunal found that I did not seek treatment from my doctor for the purpose of obtaining a performance enhancing substance. The ITF spent tremendous amounts of time and resources trying to prove I intentionally violated the anti-doping rules and the tribunal concluded I did not. You need to know that the ITF asked the tribunal to suspend me for four years – the required suspension for an intentional violation — and the tribunal rejected the ITF’s position.

While the tribunal concluded correctly that I did not intentionally violate the anti-doping rules, I cannot accept an unfairly harsh two-year suspension. The tribunal, whose members were selected by the ITF, agreed that I did not do anything intentionally wrong, yet they seek to keep me from playing tennis for two years. I will immediately appeal the suspension portion of this ruling to CAS, the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

I have missed playing tennis and I have missed my amazing fans, who are the best and most loyal fans in the world. I have read your letters. I have read your social media posts and your love and support has gotten me through these tough days. I intend to stand for what I believe is right and that’s why I will fight to be back on the tennis court as soon as possible.

Love Maria

P.S. My lawyer prepared a short summary of how the ITF process works so I thought I would pass it along to my fans so you too can be aware of what the ITF rules call for

Diversi punti sono importanti. Andiamo con ordine:

1)  “the ITF tribunal unanimously concluded that what I did was not intentional. The tribunal found that I did not seek treatment from my doctor for the purpose of obtaining a performance enhancing substance”. Il tribunale dell’ITF ha deciso che non c’era volontarietà in quanto Sharapova ha fatto, ovvero che non assumeva meldonium con l’intento di migliorare le proprie prestazioni sportive

2) “You need to know that the ITF asked the tribunal to suspend me for four years – the required suspension for an intentional violation — and the tribunal rejected the ITF’s position”. L’ITF ha chiesto durante l’udienza 4 anni di squalifica (che sarebbero la squalifica per un’azione volontaria ed intenzionale) 

3) “I will immediately appeal the suspension portion of this ruling to CAS, the Court of Arbitration for Sport”. Maria Sharapova non è d’accordo, nonostante appunto la decisione di non volontarietà della vicenda, con i 2 anni di squalifica ed annuncia che preparerà immediatamente il ricorso assieme ai suoi avvocati.