Rafael Nadal has said he believes Maria Sharapova should pay for the “negligence” that led to her failing a doping test at this year’s Australian Open.
Sharapova announced on Monday that she had tested positive for meldonium, which had been added to the list of banned substances on 1 January, a change that the Russian world No7 said she had been unaware of. The 14-times grand slam winner Nadal said the news was “terrible” for tennis but hoped the positive test arose only from a mistake.
“I want to believe that for sure it is a mistake for Maria, that she didn’t want to do it, but it is a negligence so the rules are like this. It’s fair, so now she must pay for it,” Nadal said.
Asked whether he personally read all communications on anti-doping, the Spaniard replied: “To be honest I don’t read it. I have my doctor that I have confidence in. My doctor is the doctor of the Spanish tennis federation for a lot of years. He is the doctor of all the Spanish tennis players so I have full confidence in him. And I never take anything that he doesn’t know.
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| Rafael Nadal says Maria Sharapova ‘must pay’ for positive meldonium test |
Nadal said he had never heard of meldonium before, and insisted he had never been in a situation in which something he had been taken had subsequently been declared illegal. “That can happen, because if you believe in your team and the team is not enough professional, that can happen,” he acknowledged.
“But I believe that my team is 100% professional but, by the way, I don’t know what you say the word is? Meldonium? … I don’t know what the effect of that medicine but it’s always difficult for me to be in a similar situation because I never take it.”
Nadal said he was “a completely clean guy” and that he took only the anti-inflammatories Fenbufen and Voltaren as well as the water and mineral salts he took out on to court with him, along with “natural things”.
“I really don’t know anything about the doping and I am a completely clean guy. I worked so much during my whole career and when I get injured, I get injured. I never take anything to get back quicker. I believe in the sport and in the values of the sport.
“The good news about all of this is that we have a good anti-doping programme that the players who are not doing the right thing are going on trial. So we will see how it goes.”
