Maria Sharapova Maria Sharapova doping ban reduced to 15 months as French Open return likely • Tennis player’s ban for meldonium reduced from two years on appeal 
 
 • Reduced ban means Sharapova could be in action again by May 2017 Maria Sharapova doping ban reduced to 15 months on appeal – video report 
 
 Maria Sharapova has had her two-year doping ban reduced to 15 months on appeal, allowing the Russian to return to tennis in time for the French Open next year. 
 
 The court of arbitration for sport reduced the original two-year ban imposed by an International Tennis Federation tribunal in June after it ruled that the five-times grand slam champion was “the sole author of her own misfortune” in continuing to take meldonium after it had been added to the World Anti‑Doping Agency banned list. 
 
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 In reducing the ban, however, the Cas panel found that Sharapova’s degree of fault fell short of the “significant” level determined by the ITF and also said it did not agree with many of its decisions. 
 
 With Sharapova’s ban having been backdated to when she tested positive for meldonium during the Australian Open, she will be free to return to competition on 26 April. When she originally revealed she had failed the test at a highly charged press conference in March, there had been speculation over whether she would ever play again. 
 
 The Sharapova camp was keen to try to portray the decision as a victory. The player herself declared the ruling one of her “happiest days” while her lawyer John Haggerty called it “a stunning repudiation of the ITF and it exposes the ITF decision for what it is: pure fiction”. Sharapova’s sponsor Head rushed out a controversial statement from its chief executive Johan Eliasch in which it said it was “very proud” to have stood by the player and said any ban was “wholly unfair”. 
 
 Maria Sharapova sponsors Head prompt outrage by cheering drug ban reduction Read more 
 
 The ITF tribunal delivered a stinging verdict in June despite controversy over the status of meldonium. Having added the substance to the banned list, leading to a wave of positive tests, Wada then conceded there was conflicting evidence over how long it could stay in the body and gave a moratorium to some athletes. 
 
 That did not affect the Sharapova case, given she did not dispute that she had taken the drug despite it being on the banned list, but added to the general swirl of confusion around the issue. 
 
 At the original tribunal, the ITF had argued for a four-year ban. But the Cas panel found that Sharapova had acted reasonably in expecting her agent IMG to assist her in her anti-doping obligations, although she “fell short” by failing to monitor or supervise whether they were doing so. As such, while she was at fault it was not “significant” as the ITF tribunal had originally argued. 
 
 The original ruling showed how her agent, Max Eisenbud, had failed to check whether meldonium had been added to the list because he had split up with his wife and therefore not taken his annual vacation, on which he claimed to have habitually made the checks. 
 
 What is meldonium and why did Maria Sharapova take it? Read more 
 
 While far from exonerating her, the ruling also makes clear that “under no circumstances” can Sharapova be considered to be “an intentional doper”. However, it did reiterate that she had failed to include the fact that she was taking the substance on her doping control forms. 
 
 The original ruling showed that Sharapova was at one point taking more than 30 legitimate substances and supplements, before cutting the number to three – including meldonium. 
 
 “I’ve gone from one of the toughest days of my career last March when I learned about my suspension to now, one of my happiest days, as I found out I can return to tennis in April,” said Sharapova, who claimed she had missed several notifications from the ITF that meldonium was to be added to the banned list, and again took aim at the ITF for not doing more to inform her. 
 
 “I have taken responsibility from the very beginning for not knowing that the over-the-counter supplement I had been taking for the last 10 years was no longer allowed. But I also learned how much better other federations were at notifying their athletes of the rule change, especially in eastern Europe where Mildronate is commonly taken by millions of people.” 

 4 October 2016 – London, ENGLAND - An appeal panel appointed under the Code of Sports-related Arbitration of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (“CAS”) has reduced the sanction imposed on Maria Sharapova by an Independent Tribunal on 8 June 2016 from 24 months to 15 months. The results and prize money that Ms. Sharapova earned at the 2016 Australian Open remain disqualified. Her period of ineligibility will now end at midnight on 25 April 2017. 
 
 
 
 Ms. Sharapova, a 29-year-old player from Russia, provided a urine sample on 26 January 2016 that was found to contain meldonium, which is prohibited under section S4 (Hormone and Metabolic Modulators) of the 2016 WADA Prohibited List. She admitted her consequent violation of the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme, and noted that the meldonium was the active ingredient of a medication, Mildronate, that she had been taking for ten years, and that she had not realised it had been added to the Prohibited List as from 1 January 2016. 
 
 
 
 An Independent Tribunal appointed under Article 8.1.1 of the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme found that Ms. Sharapova bore significant fault for her violation, because (among other things) she had failed to put in place an adequate system to check for changes made each year to the Prohibited List. It therefore imposed on Ms. Sharapova a period of ineligibility of two years, backdated to commence on 26 January 2016. Her results at the 2016 Australian Open were disqualified, and the ranking points and prize money that she won at that event were forfeited. 
 
 
 
 Ms. Sharapova appealed that decision to CAS on the basis that she bore No Significant Fault or Negligence for her anti-doping rule violation and therefore her ban should be reduced from two years to "time served" (i.e., she should be free to start competing again from the date of the CAS panel's decision). 
 
 
 
 Following a hearing on 7 and 8 September 2016, the CAS panel found that Ms. Sharapova had a reduced perception of the risk that she took while using Mildronate, because (a) she had used Mildronate for around ten years without any anti-doping issue, (b) she had consulted the Russian doctor who prescribed the Mildronate for medical reasons, not to enhance her performance, and (c) she had received no specific warning about the change in status of meldonium from WADA, the ITF, or the WTA. In addition, the CAS panel considered that it was reasonable for Ms. Sharapova to entrust the checking of the Prohibited List each year to her agent. 
 
 
 
 However, the CAS panel found that Ms. Sharapova was at fault for (a) failing to give her agent adequate instructions as to how to carry out the important task of checking the Prohibited List, and (b) failing to supervise and control the actions of her agent in carrying out that task (specifically the lack of any procedure for reporting or follow-up verification to make sure that her agent had actually discharged his duty). The CAS panel also noted Ms. Sharapova’s failure to disclose her use of meldonium on her doping control forms. 
 
 
 
 Taking all of these circumstances into account, the CAS panel determined that, although Ms. Sharapova was at fault, her plea of No Significant Fault or Negligence should be upheld, triggering a discretion to reduce the otherwise applicable two year sanction by up to 50 per cent. Based on its analysis of Ms. Sharapova's degree of fault, the CAS panel decided that the sanction should be reduced in this case to 15 months. 
 
 The full decision is available below. 
 
 Editor's note: 
 
 The Tennis Anti-Doping Programme applies to all players competing at Grand Slam tournaments and events sanctioned by the ITF, ATP, and WTA. Players are tested for substances prohibited by the World AntiDoping Agency and, upon a finding that an Anti-Doping Rule Violation has been committed, sanctions are imposed under the Programme in compliance with the requirements of the World Anti-Doping Code. More information on the Programme, sanctions, statistics, and related matters can be found at www.itftennis.com/antidoping.
– Maria Sharapova can take part in next year's French Open despite an initial two-year ban from tennis. The Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced the Russian tennis star's doping ban to 15 months on Tuesday, per the Guardian, noting she "had a reduced perception of the risk" of taking recently banned meldonium because she had taken it for 10 years without issue and relied on her agent to notify her about prohibited substances, which the panel found to be "reasonable." As the new ban will be served from Jan. 26, 2016—the date Sharapova failed a drug test—she'll be able to compete again in late April 2017.