Doping Boss Brags About Taking Maria Sharapova Down Because She's Rich

As I've mentioned, the investigation into Maria Sharapova "accidentally" doping has convinced me that if nothing else, she's incredibly careless/stupid and was definitely taking meldonium under extremely sketchy circumstances. But even so, it's hard to believe the head of the doping agency that helped land her with a two-year suspension would go around gloating about it.

Craig Reedie, the president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said Monday he took more pride in the ban because Sharapova’s salary exceeds the budget of WADA. “For me the only satisfactory element in Madame Sharapova’s case was that in one year she can earn more money than the whole of WADA’s budget put together,” he said, adding that WADA was “punching above its weight” on a budget of less than $30 million a year. In 2015, Sharapova raked in $29.7 million, according to Forbes.

Sharapova’s camp was rightfully outraged by the comments, firing back with a statement from lawyer John Haggerty::

“The statement made today by the WADA president is unprofessional. Justice, whether in the eyes of WADA or a court, must be blind, including being blind to a player’s earnings. Mr. Reedie owes an apology to Maria and to all successful tennis players unless he wants fans to think WADA has different standards for players depending on their ranking and earnings.”

Might this be the just the kind of thing to cause the International Tennis Federation to suddenly show her some mercy?