When Maria Sharapova called a press conference, promising a major announcement, many had simply assumed that she was going to announce her retirement from the sport and head off and become a perfume magnate.
She stunned the press conference by announcing she failed a drug test at the Australian Open. She told the assembled that she had been taking the substance in question - meldonium - since 2006.
The substance was only placed on the banned substance list at the beginning of this year.
She has been taking the medicine, which was prescribed by the family doctor, for the past ten years.
I failed the test and take full responsibility for that.
I know that with this I face consequences and I don’t want to end my career this way and I hope that I will have a chance to play again.
I had been taking this medicine for the past 10 years, but on 1 January this became a prohibited substance which I did not know.
Gary Lineker was quick in with a lame joke.
Maria Sharapova has admitted to failing a drugs test at the Australian Open. I sense this is only 15 - Love
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) March 7, 2016
She also addressed the retirement speculation by saying she would never take her leave of the sport in such a dank room with such a god-dawful carpet.
WATCH: Maria Sharapova says she would never announce retirement in L.A. hotel "with a fairly ugly carpet" https://t.co/TXmmcNEvuN
— Globalnews.ca (@globalnews) March 7, 2016
Here's the full press conference from the dowdy room.
