After Rafael Nadal mentioned that Maria Sharapova "must pay" for testing positive for a banned substance, World No. 2 men's singles player Andy Murray gave his opinion, saying the Russian superstar remains solely responsible for her downfall. The Briton also said that Sharapova should be "suspended".
The ITF (International Tennis Federation) took the decision of provisionally suspending the 28-year-old glam girl from the sport; with the suspension coming into effect March 12.
Sharapova tested positive for meldonium, a drug which was added to WADA's (World Anti-Doping Agency) list of banned substances from this year.
"It's not up to me to decide the punishment [for Sharapova], but if you're taking performance enhancing drugs and you fail a drugs test, you have to get suspended," Murray was quoted as saying by Reuters.
"If you're taking a prescription drug and you're not using it for what that drug was meant for, then you don't need it, so you're just using it for the performance enhancing benefits that drug is giving you. And I don't think that that's right."
While companies like Nike, Tag Heuer and automobile giants Porsche discontinued their commercial relationship with Sharapova after her admission of failing the drugs test, tennis racquet manufacturer Head, who have been providing the Russian with their racquets over the years, pledged to stand by her in her turbulent times.
Head also said that they were planning on extending their association with her.
Murray, however, found this decision a bit odd. Incidentally, the 28-year-old Scot also uses 'Head' racquets.
"I don't really know what else to say on that [Head's decision of planning to extend contract with Sharapova], but that's not something I believe," he added. "I think at this stage it's important really to get hold of the facts and let things play out, like more information coming out before making a decision to extend the contract like that, in my view.
"I personally wouldn't have responded like that."
Sharapova, meanwhile, is not the only athlete to have tested positive for meldonium this year. 1500m world champion Abeba Aregawi, 2015 Tokyo Marathon winner Endeshaw Negesse and Russian ice dancer Ekaterina Bobrova have also been found guilty of taking the banned drug.
