Porsche has reportedly suspended Maria Sharapova as their brand ambassador after the five-times Grand Slam champion and the world’s highest-paid female athlete, failed a drug test at the Australian Open.
The 28-year old Russian tennis star was tested positive for Meldonium, a substance manufactured and marketed by a company based in Latvia and used in Lithuania and the Russian Federation to treat angina and myocardial infarction.
Sharapova has been legally taking the medicine for the past 10 years after being given by her family doctor. This medicine was not on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list until 1 January 2016.
The professional athlete further adds that WADA had e-mailed her on December 22, informing of changes to the banned list of substances, but she failed to “click” on the link that would have detailed the prohibited items.
In response to this, Porsche released a statement announcing that the sponsorship of the professional athlete has been suspended, “We regret the current news about Maria Sharapova. Until further details emerge and we are able to analyse the situation, we have decided to suspend planned activities.”
Besides being excluded from participating in the Australian Open this year, Sharapova apparently won’t be competing in the Porsche Grand Prix, a tennis event sponsored by the carmaker in Stuttgart next month.
As one of the top-rated female tennis players in the world, Sharapova has served as a brand ambassador for Porsche since 2013. Other sponsors including TAG Heuer and Nike have also reportedly suspended their relationships with the athlete after the investigation by the International Tennis Federation (IFT) was complete.
