Bellucci FedEx ATP Player Profile 2016
Bellucci FedEx ATP Player Profile 2016
May172016
Maria Sharapova, the five-time tennis Grand Slam winner, will face an anti-doping panel in London on Wednesday after taking the banned drug meldonium.
The 29-year-old Russian failed a doping test at the Australian Open in January.
Meldonium, a heart disease drug, was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list on 1 January.
The International Tennis Federation panel could issue a four-year-ban – but experts say a six to 12 month punishment is more likely.
That is because Wada admitted in April that there was a lack of scientific evidence about how long meldonium stayed in the system and it suggested athletes who tested positive for the substance before 1 March could avoid bans, provided they had stopped taking it before 1 January.
However, Sharapova said she had continued taking it past that date as she was unaware it had been added to the banned list as she knew it by another name – mildronate.
The former world number one also admitted she had failed to properly read advice sent out by anti-doping authorities ahead of the ban.
READ MORE: What is meldonium and what are the benefits?
After admitting she had failed the drug test, Sharapova revealed she had been taking the meldonium for 10 years on the recommendation of her doctor for medical reasons.
“It is very important for you to understand that, for 10 years, this medicine was not on Wada’s banned list and I had been legally taking that medicine for the past 10 years,” she said.
The Latvian-made drug is said to benefit athletes by increasing stamina and endurance. It was widely used by sportsmen and women in eastern Europe, in particular, ahead of its prohibition.
A recent study suggested almost 500 athletes may have been taking meldonium at the 2015 European Games in Baku.
Sharapova has been the highest-earning female athlete in the world in each of the past 11 years, according to the Forbes list.
Her case has been the most high-profile relating to meldonium since the ban was brought in – there have been almost 300 positive samples so far this year, according to Wada.
They included Belarusian tennis player Sergey Betov, who also tested positive at the Australian Open. The doubles specialist was last month cleared by the International Tennis Federation on the grounds that he had stopped taking it before 2016.
Sharapova is expected to argue that the health reasons she cited for taking the drug should qualify her for a backdated therapeutic use exemption (TUE).
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World No. 4 looking for third title of season
Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka made the home crowd happy on Tuesday at the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open. The World No. 4 took only 53 minutes to bypass Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1, 6-1 and move into the quarter-finals of his home tournament. Wawrinka, the No. 1 seed, received a first-round bye.
He improved to 6-0 against Ramos-Vinolas, No. 53 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Wawrinka has won two titles so far this season, the Aircel Chennai Open in January and the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February. But the defending Roland Garros champion has failed to string three consecutive wins together since Dubai.
He’ll next face Pablo Carreno Busta, who beat Inigo Cervantes 6-2, 6-4. Wawrinka won their previous meeting, a three-set contest on clay in 2013.
Reigning Geneva champion Thomaz Bellucci looked eager to defend his title. Bellucci erased all three break points and slid past Mikhail Kukushkin 6-2, 6-1. The Brazilian will face sixth seed Federico Delbonis. The Argentine leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 4-2, all of which have been played on clay.
Rajeev Ram improved to 2-1 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against Evgeny Donskoy. The American hit 10 aces and prevailed against the Russian qualifier 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 in two hours and seven minutes. Ram broke Donskoy at 3-2 in the final set and later served for the win. The 32 year old will face Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Denis Istomin ended Florian Mayer’s good luck in Geneva. Mayer, who was a lucky loser, lost to Istomin for the third time, 6-2, 6-3. Istomin erased the lone break point faced and won in 57 minutes. He’ll play No. 2 seed David Ferrer, who received a first-round bye. Ferrer leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 2-1, including a clay-court win in 2013 at the Mutua Madrid Open.
DAY 4 PREVIEW: No. 3 seed Marin Cilic and No. 4 seed John Isner return to the ATP World Tour on Wednesday when they play in the second round of the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open. The 6-foot-6 Cilic and 6-foot-10 Isner missed ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events at Monte-Carlo, Madrid and Rome due to knee injuries. Isner, whose last match came on April 10, begins play against Lukas Rosol. Cilic, who has not played since March 27, opens against fellow 27-year-old Ernests Gulbis.
Also on Court Central, Ferrer makes his Geneva debut against Istomin. Ranked 12th, Ferrer is outside the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings this week for the first time since October 10, 2010. Though the 34-year-old Spaniard is 16-9 in 2016, he has yet to play in a final – his longest drought to start a season since 2006. Istomin, too, is struggling by his standards. The Uzbek is 4-12 in 2016 and has not reached a quarter-final since St. Petersburg last September.
Bellucci was also off to a slow start this season, losing seven straight matches after advancing to the Quito final. Last week in Rome, the Brazilian beat Gael Monfils and Nicolas Mahut before falling to World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. Though he lost the match, Bellucci became the first player since Roger Federer at Cincinnati in 2012 to sweep six games in a set from the Serb.
Bellucci meets Delbonis in the second match on Court Central. All eight players competing on Court Central have captured an ATP World Tour title, though Delbonis is the only one to do so in 2016. He won a clay-court championship at Marrakech on April 10 and is fifth among all players in clay-court wins this season.
Four young players aim to win a $50,000 prize
Gregoire Barrere, Mitchell Krueger, Omar Jasika and Daniil Medvedev feature in the second edition of the Young Guns Contest, which is part of Tecnifibre’s On The Road to the ATP World Tour programme.
The four young players, who are attempting to rise up the Emirates ATP Rankings in 2016, will compete for a $50,000 prize based on their on-court results and also their ability to share their lives on social media.
Visit Tecnifibre Young Guns Website
Barrere, a 22-year-old from France, currently No. 216 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, said, “It is a great challenge and this cash prize is an important amount. Even though I am lucky enough to receive some funding from the [French Tennis] Federation, this amount will, for example, allow me to increase the size of my team to a physio at certain periods of the season. This contest is also an opportunity to become more professional in communicating and getting closer to the people who follow and support me on tour. To work on self-branding is now part of the sport.”
American Krueger, also 22, said, “It is opportunity to strike gold! To win this contest will ease my entry into the big leagues! The way to win this cash prize won’t be easy, I will need to plan out carefully and be smart on the social networks.”
Each of the young players will be assigned a Tecnifibre team mentor – Jeremy Chardy, Denis Kudla, John Millman and Aljaz Bedene – to help them win the competition.
“I am supporting Greg and I will take my role extremely seriously,” said Chardy. “We are a team! He told me that I bring him luck because the week after we practised together at the On The Road camp in May, he won an ITF Futures tournament in Angers. He’s on a streak, he’s playing well! We will also try and push his image on the social network sites. We’re going to fight until the end.”
Kudla, who won the inaugural Young Guns contest in 2015, will help Krueger, while Jasika will join forces with fellow Australian Millman and Bedene will support 20-year-old Russian Medvedev.
The winner’s cheque will be presented at the Barclays World Tour Finals in London in November.
Belinda Bencic of Switzerland has pulled out of the French Open because of a back injury.
The 19-year-old, who is ranked eighth in the world, has been troubled by the problem since March.
Bencic will be replaced in the main draw by Lauren Davis, 22, of the United States, who reached the second round at Roland Garros in 2012.
The draw for the tournament takes place on Friday, with play beginning on Sunday.
James Ward lost 6-4 6-3 to Italy’s Matteo Donati in the first qualifying round for the French Open.
British number five Ward, 29, was beaten by a player ranked 99 places below him in the world at 270.
Donati, 21, will play Sweden’s Elias Ymer in the next round after moving to within two wins of the main draw at Roland Garros.
Brydan Klein, Britain’s other player in the men’s qualifiers, plays Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky later on Tuesday.
More to follow.
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