FORMER WORLD NUMBER one Jennifer Capriati believes Maria Sharapova should be stripped of all titles after revealing she failed a drug test at the Australian Open.
Last night, the Russian tennis star stunned the sport by disclosing she had tested positive for the banned substance of meldonium at the first grand slam of 2016.
Sharapova has been taking meldonium for a decade due to health reasons and said she was not aware it was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) list of prohibited substances as of January 1 this year.
However, in a series of highly critical comments on Twitter, three-time major champion and Olympic gold medallist Capriati slammed the 28-year-old, who will be suspended over the offence.
“Something is wrong with the whole system. The intentions of the system [were] never morally grounded to begin with,” she said.
I just think it takes away from the sport and the hard work if true.
“Everyone reading what’s written and assuming it’s true is wrong. It’s just wrong. All of it [is] not true. Nothing of what you read is true.
What’s the point of someone taking a heart medicine that helps your heart recover faster unless you have a heart condition?
“The advantages are so subtle they can be just a hair width difference. That gives you only what you need to know to reach that extra level. Sometimes it all about what gives you the most confidence to win.
“In my opinion [if] it’s all true every title should be stripped. This is other people’s lives as well.”
Sharapova won Wimbledon as a 17-year-old in 2004 and also triumphed in the US Open in 2006, the 2008 Australian Open and the French Open in 2012 and 2014.
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