Maria Sharapova’s sponsors rally round

 

Despite Tennis champion Maria Sharapova being banned from the sport for two years after testing positive for a banned substance, several of her corporate sponsors have leapt on the International Tennis Federation’s ruling that her contravention of doping rules was unintentional as justification for renewing the relationship with the 29-year-old Russian. Nike which had previously said it would drop its sponsorship of the former Wimbledon champion said it would “continue to partner with her”. Evian, the mineral water brand owned by French group Danone, said it would “maintain its long-standing relationship with the champion.” ITF ruling concedes that the tennis star’s contravention of doping rule was unintentional. Ms. Sharapova said she would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport describing her punishment as “unfairly harsh.”

Her racket sponsor Head also strongly defended the player after her initial admission of using meldonium – said it would seek to extend her contract, Carmaker Porsche said it would wait for the outcome of Ms. Sharapova’s appeal before making a final decision on its deal. Tag Heuer had a contract that ended in 2015, but it stopped negotiations on renewing the partnership after news of the failed drug test. Jean-Claude Biver, the watchmaker’s chief executive said “We now have some time and, as she has been suspended for two years, we are not in a hurry anymore to sign a new contract today or this month. We will see later what we are going to do.

Avon, the door-to-door cosmetics company said it had not planned to extend its relationship with Ms. Sharapova, which focused on one of our fragrances even before the drug test revelations.

Maria Sharapova had been the best-paid female athlete for the past 11 years during which time she earned £15.11 ($21.9m) with about £13.8m ($20m) from endorsements over the past year. According to Forbes, Serena Williams, a rival tennis player has now risen to the top of the list after earning £19.94m ($28.9m).