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Maria Sharapova's racquet sponsor remains behind her, but the memo hasn't reached Indian Wells
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – Among all of Maria Sharapova’s corporate partners, Head tennis racquets stand out.
The majority of them, including powerhouses Nike and Porsche, have either adopted a wait-and-see attitude in the wake of the announcement of her positive doping test for the drug meldonium Monday, or have suspended their relationship with her pending the playing out of the suspension process.
But not Head tennis racquets. In fact, just the opposite; they have announced that they are fully backing her.
“Head is proud to stand behind Maria, now and into the future and we intend to extend her contract. We look forward to working with her and to announcing new sponsorships in the weeks and months ahead. Maria may have made a mistake but she has earned the benefit of the doubt and we are extending it to her,” was the official statement from the sporting goods company.
Clearly, chairman and CEO Johan Eliasch has received some information from Camp Sharapova that might offer a glimpse into one aspect of her defence as the suspension process moves forward.
“Although it is beyond doubt she tested positive for the use of a WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) banned substance, the circumstantial evidence is equally beyond doubt the continued use of meldonium after Jan 1st, 2016 in the dosages she had been recommended, which were significantly short of performance-enhancing levels, was a manifest error by Maria,” the statement continued.
“In the absence of any evidence of any intent by Maria of enhancing her performance or trying to gain an unfair advantage through the use of mildronate, we further conclude this falls into the category of ‘honest’ mistakes. ... We also know that for more than a decade, Maria Sharapova has been a role model and woman of integrity who has inspired millions of fans around the world to play and watch tennis. We look forward to many more years of working with Maria.”
That is a huge endorsement for the beleaguered champion, no doubt a welcome one.
But here at the BNP Paribas Open, there is plenty of evidence that, earlier in the week, Head was swift to sideline her – or at least her virtual image.
If you wandered the grounds in Indian Wells on Monday, the first day of qualifying and the day Sharapova held her extraordinary press conference a few hours away in Los Angeles, you were able to have your photo taken with her.
She was not here, having withdrawn from the tournament because of an ongoing forearm injury the day after she received the notice of her positive drugs test. But with the magic of digital, you can head to the Head photo booth and pose with the company’s players, which include Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych and American Sloane Stephens. And Sharapova.
Monday night, according to one of the employees manning the both, they received an e-mail instructing them to remove Sharapova’s likeness from the list of options. The running slideshow of photos of the players with various fans that runs all day and night on a loop now does not contain any photos of fans with Sharapova, although there are still a couple of life-sized likenesses of her on the side walls.
Fans do ask, the employee said, and are told that the virtual Sharapova is not available.
As of late Thursday, another booth employee said there had been no e-mail – at least not yet – to reverse that directive.
On Friday, Sharapova remained a non-entity beyond the large likenesses looming on either side, not to mention around the grounds, where many of the stadiums are festooned with gigantic likenesses of the top players.
Meanwhile, the effort to stay in front of this story continues on the Sharapova side, as she wrote another long Facebook post addressing some of the inaccuracies she said have been circulating through the media since thee news was first announced.
