Sharapova needs to be ‘nicer’ when she returns to competition: Tennis legends
By Teng Kiat | Fit To Post Sports – 7 hours ago
She doesn’t have a reputation for being the most popular of players, but Maria Sharapova might just have to start courting more friends when she returns to tennis from her drug ban.
This March, the Russian star publicly disclosed that she had tested positive for meldonium at the Australian Open two months prior. She was subsequently banned in June by the International Tennis Federation until January 2018, but her sentence was reduced by nine months earlier this month after a successful appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the final authority on global sports disputes.
Sharapova, who admitted in 2013 during Wimbledon that she was “not really close” to other players, had not received much support after news of her initial ban broke. Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic declared to French paper Le Parisien, “All the other players are saying she’s a cheater.” Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova said she didn’t feel “sorry at all” for a player she described as “arrogant, conceited and cold”.
Others were conspicuous by their silence on the 29-year-old five-time Grand Slam champion. Tennis legend Martina Navratilova believes Sharapova will have to be “nicer” when she returns in order for her compatriots to welcome her back.
“Yes, she keeps to herself, tells her team not to talk to anybody… but that’s her,” she told media during a press conference on Saturday afternoon in Singapore, where she is attending the WTA Finals as an official ambassador.
“Some people can handle it that way, some cannot - Maria is just that way, she’s got the blinkers on. Will she be nicer, more approachable and engaging? I absolutely think so. She needs to do that and say ‘Look, I screwed up, I’d appreciate you welcoming me back’. I think the players will, nobody wants to hold a grudge [and] she will have paid the price.”
Sharapova will be ‘hungry’ to return to top
Navratilova, who played with Sharapova at a charity event two weeks ago when the latter returned to a tennis court for the first time since the Australian Open, stressed that the player did not intend to cheat.
“She took a drug that was legal for so many years, just didn’t see the fine print; [she is] absolutely responsible for that big, big mistake, but I think the price she has paid - and is still paying - is bigger than the mistake,” she added.
The latest developments mean that Sharapova will be allowed to play starting 26 April 2017, though the former number one will be unranked and require wildcards to enter tournaments. While the road back to the top will be tough, it is not impossible, noted Navratilova.
“She didn’t dominate when she was playing, but to get back in the top four, [she can do it] absolutely,” she said. “[Making the] top 10 is the first step. She is still young enough, but it’s probably going to get more difficult as you get older.
“She’ll be fresh, be as competitive as ever, happy to be here with a different kind of outlook and attitude.
“It will definitely be a different situation for her. We’ll see how the crowd will respond, the players as well. She will have to be a little nervous coming back, but I’m glad she will be back in the game.”
Fellow legend Chris Evert pointed out that Sharapova will be “hungry” to prove her critics wrong.
“I think she is coming back into a tougher environment – the top 10, 15 players are playing better than when she left – but I just think she is going to be even more determined to sort of make a point when she comes back, because maybe in her mind she still feels she’s been wronged,” she said.
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А я думаю - она вернется сокрушительно, смотрел Сингапур - такое чувство, Маша просто вынесла бы всех...