[BREAKING] Tennis Great Maria Sharapova Suspended 2 Years For Doping

Maria Sharapova was suspended from tennis for two years Wednesday by the International Tennis Federation, the Associated Press reported.

Sharapova, 29, is planning to "immediately appeal the suspension," she said in a statement.

On March 8, the five-time grand slam champion admitted that she had failed a drug test during the 2016 Australian Open in January.

"I did fail the test and I take full responsibility for it," she said at the time during a press conference in Los Angeles.

Sharapova said she had been given a drug called Mildronate by her family doctor for the past 10 years. The drug is also called Meldonium. During the March press conference Sharapova said she did not know of the drug's other name. She said she first received the substance in 2006 for a variety of health issues including magnesium deficiency and due to her family history of diabetes.

"It's very important for you to know that for the past 10 years, this drug was not on WADA's ban list," she said at the time.

The World Anti-Doping Agency announced in September 2015 that Meldonium was being added to its list of prohibited substances because of "evidence of its use by athletes with the intention of enhancing performance."

Sharapova posted this statement addressing the suspension on her Facebook page:

Two years is a long suspension for any athlete, but Sharapova could have been punished by the ITF for up to four years for a first-time violation of the federation's doping policy.

The ITF tribunal report indicates that Sharapova did not intentionally violate the anti-doping rules, which would have resulted in the four-year suspension. But the ruling did reveal that the tribunal proved Sharapova failed to prove "that she bears no significant fault or negligence."

Sharapova's team argued that the ITF should have known about her regular use of Meldonium and adequately alerted her of its addition to the list of banned substances.

"The player submits that the ITF is estopped from asserting that the player bears any fault, because it failed to warn her of the inclusion of Meldonium in the Prohibited List, although the ITF knew, so it is alleged, or ought to have known that she had repeatedly tested positive for Meldonium in 2015," read the report.

But the ITF contested that claim and argued that it did not know of Sharapova's regular use of Meldonium. Ultimately it concluded that the evidence brought forth by Sharapova's team did not support her arguments.

The ITF report also shed light on why an athlete would use Meldonium. The drug is manufactured in Latvia and proscribed for human therapeutic use in Eastern European counties. The ITF tribunal report cited a Dr. Rabin as saying that the drug acts as a metabolic modulator. In other words, it allows an increased production of energy using less oxygen.

"Mildronate is promoted as having a positive effect on energy metabolism and stamina 6, to be taken by athletes shortly before training. The evidence of Dr. Rabin 7 exhibits a number of papers which appear to demonstrate that Mildronate has a positive effect on the performance of athletes," read the ITF tribunal report.

Along with the two-year suspension, Sharapova's quarterfinal result and prize money from the 2016 Australian Open was disqualified by the ITF.

Sharapova won her first grand slam tournament at Wimbledon in 2004. She went on to win four more grand slam titles — the U.S. Open in 2006, The Australian Open in 2008 and the French Open in 2012 and 2014 — and complete the career grand slam.

Sharapova moved from Russia to Bradenton, Fla., for tennis training as a child. She now lives in Longboat Key, Fla., near Bradenton.

[Photo: Wikimedia commons]