Sharapova appeals to CAS in doping case; ruling by July 18

The Russian tennis federation has put her on its tentative list of players slated to compete in Rio de Janeiro.

Maria Sharapova has filed an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in an attempt to overturn her tennis drugs ban.

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Meldonium was added to the world anti-doping WADA list on January 1.

CAS said it has not decided where to hold a hearing or not.

The Russian star, who made her name by winning Wimbledon at the age of 17, will sit through the grass-court tournaments waiting to see whether her appeal against a two-year doping ban has been successful.

Sharapova was provisionally suspended by the ITF on 12 March while the governing body investigated her positive test for the meldonium.

If CAS sticks with the two-year sanction, Sharapova won’t be eligible to come back until January 2018.

“The tribunal, whose members were selected by the ITF, agreed that I did not do anything intentionally wrong, yet they seek to keep me from playing tennis for two years”.

Sharapova failed a mandatory drugs test after her quarter-final defeat by Serena Williams in Melbourne on 26 January. She could have been barred from competing for up to four years. News stories displayed here appear in our category for Sports and are licensed via a specific agreement between LongIsland.com and The Associated Press, the world’s oldest and largest news organization. For the protection of AP and its licensors, content may not be copied, altered or redistributed in any form. Please see our terms of service for more information.