Johannesburg : Maria Sharapova’s lawyer John Haggerty has lashed out at World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) chief Craig Reedie after the latter made an ‘unprofessional’ statement about the Russian tennis star’s earnings.
While speaking at a WADA symposium in London, Reedie claimed that Sharapova’s annual earning is far more than the whole of WADA’s yearly budget of 30 million dollars.
Reedie insisted it was quite satisfactory to see Sharapova suspend despite her potential to earn more than the agency in a year.
Hitting back over Reedie, Haggerty demanded an apology from the WADA chief to Sharapova as well as to all successful tennis players, Sport24 reported.
Earlier this month, Sharapova was handed a two-year suspension by a three-member Tennis Anti-Doping Program Tribunal appointed by the International Tennis Federation after being tested positive for the banned substance meldonium at the Australian Open.
Meldonium was placed on the banned list by the World Anti-Doping Agency this year but the 2012 Olympic silver medallist said that she had been taking the drug since 2006 legally for years for health reasons.
Reflecting on the ruling, Sharapova had said that she would not accept an ‘unfairly harsh two-year’ ban and would immediately appeal the suspension portion of this ruling to Court of Arbitration for Sport ( CAS).(ANI)