One of the most notorious and long-awaited events not only in the tennis world but all sport is to take place today on the court of German Stuttgart. After a 15-month disqualification, Maria Sharapova returns to elite tennis for the first time in history with a big tournament with zero points in the ranking. Realnoe Vremya tells why only Maria Sharapova managed to return noisily, why tennis needs her more than she needs tennis and how she handles scandals around her name.
One could read, hear and see a great deal of information about her case in ITF and know many opinions that the Russian tennis player was outside sport during the last 15 months. Consider people from the tennis world from a completely new perspective and see who is who and their attitude to Maria. This is why we won't tell all this story and discuss whether it was ethical to disqualify Sharapova for the substance for the nth time, which was not considered as doping when she was taking it. We would rather tell why Maria Sharapova's return to the tournaments in German Stuttgart is a phenomenon in itself.
Generally speaking, no matter whether you are interested in tennis or in sport in general, ''Maria Sharapova's case'' seems to be the story that concerns people of different interests around the world.
To start with, this comeback will be the first case in the history of tennis when the athlete was included in the draw of the competition when she was still disqualified. The case is unique. But if we base only on law, anti-doping rules of ITF and WTA allowed this comeback while VADA rules simply did not forbid it. Maria has ''0'' in the column ''ranking''. She did not begin her entrance to the world of elite tennis with small competitions as it usually happens after disqualification. It already makes Maria a historical figure.
The fact that Maria Sharapova's comeback after 15 months of holidays has already become the main event in sport this spring and probably of all year is more important. No return in tennis was waited for with vibrant curiosity. Accreditation of journalists to this competition ended a long time before the kick-off, sports media do nothing but write about the upcoming tournament while tickets were sold out as if it had been an Australian Open final.
This is why competition organisers not only in Germany but also in Italy and Spain stood in a line to grant the Russian tennis player a wild card. It was unlikely to happen to any European tennis player. There are suspicions that something similar could happen in the tennis world only for one figure – great American Serena Williams. But everybody knows Masha and everybody is also waiting for her.
We should clarify that for very Maria Sharapova this comeback will not maybe become as a big event in her life as it is for her multi-billion army of fans. Because the athlete perfectly got used to living without sport. However, she did not hide that tennis was part of her life. ''This past year, my intake of alcohol was so much more than ever in my life,'' she told Vogue in winter. ''But it was because I actually had a social life! I think I'd go crazy if I was only a tennis player. Seriously.''
Maria actively travelled around the planet, gave interviews, visited numerous fashion shows, studied in a business school of one of the most prestigious universities of the world – Harvard – and, of course, started her business making Sugarpova candies. When CAS reduced the disqualification from 2 years to 15 months, Sharapova recalled: ''Not only those who were with me but the entire world supported me.''
It was so. Her e-mail and Facebook were full of her fans' letters of support in the beginning. A story about the tennis player's Australian fan who deliberately booked tickets to Germany to see her first appearance on the court has surfaced in the media recently. Considering that the Australian citizen will have to spend one day to get Germany and one day to be back and $3,000 for one way, we can only imagine how popular Maria is worldwide.
Zara clothing company got its portion of fame from Sharapova just because Maria had this company's T-shirt with lettering Back in 5 Minutes on when she launched her ''chocolate factory''. After that Masha's fans started to buy the same T-shirts around the world and post a photo in it in social networks with a hashtag #IStandwithMaria. Maria personally reposted many of them on her page. As the very Russian admitted, she had never reposted so much, and it made her wake up with a smile.
And when Maria just admitted at that unfortunate press conference with an ''awful carpet'' that mildronate was found in her organism, many sponsors including Nike and Porsche started to turn their back on her and stop cooperating. And only Head – best racket manufacturer – claimed it not only would break the contract but expand it in the next years. ''Maria may have made a mistake but she has earned the benefit of the doubt and we are extending it to her,'' the company stated.
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