Just days after Maria Sharapova announced she failed a drug test at the Australian Open, three of her biggest sponsors - Nike, TAG Huer and Porsche - suspended their partnerships with the Russian tennis icon. Head, Sharapova's racket supplier, announced Thursday it would not follow suit.
Head stated Sharapova made "a manifest error" when she continued taking Meldonium after the World Anti-Doping Association banned it. The company started sponsoring her in 2011 and appears to have no interest in ending that partnership any time soon.
"For a decade Maria Sharapova has been a role model and woman of integrity who has inspired millions of fans around the world to play and watch tennis," Head CEO Johan Eliasch said in a statement. "The honesty and courage she displayed in announcing and acknowledging her mistake was admirable. HEAD is proud to stand behind Maria, now and into the future and we intend to extend her contract."
"We look forward to working with her and to announcing new sponsorships in the weeks and months ahead," he added.
At a news conference on Monday, Sharapova revealed she had been taking Meldonium for 10 years, though the drug has only been banned for about two months. Meldonium is often prescribed for people with heart health issues as it helps the blood to flow, thus improving muscle function and endurance. The drug's inventor, Ivars Kalvins, recently stated taking it is not the same as blood doping.
Regardless, WADA classified Meldonium as a performance enhancer last September and it was officially banned as of Jan. 1. Sharapova claimed she had been taking it for so long to preemptively combat diabetes, which runs in her family, and for a magnesium deficiency.
The drug is produced only in Latvia and has been believed to be widely used among Eastern European and Russian athletes, though it is equally as unknown to most of the rest of the world.
John Haggerty, Sharapova's attorney, stressed his client was only taking a banned substance for "25 days." He also said she does not plan to challenge the International Tennis Federation's handling of her positive test.
"So with 10 years she proceeded on and legally and properly took this medication to keep these low-established medical conditions under control," he said. "Regrettably, when they added this to the ban list on January 1 of this year, she did not pick that up. So for 25 days out her long career she was not in compliance with the WADA requirements for banned substances."
