Andy Murray says Maria Sharapova deserves to be suspended
LONDON -- Andy Murray isn't one to shy away from expressing his views and he didn't hold back when asked about his reaction to Maria Sharapova failing a drug test at the Australian Open.
The Scottish tennis player says athletes who fail a drug test "have to get suspended."
"I find that strange that there's a prescription drug used, I believe, for heart conditions and so many athletes competing at the top level of their sport would have that condition," Murray says, according to BBC's Five Live. "That sounds a little bit off to me."
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Murray says unless people have a heart condition, they shouldn't be able to take a drug like Meldonium.
"I think taking a prescription drug that you don't need just because it's legal, that's wrong," he said, The Associated Press reports.
"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."
That being the case, Murray said, the penalty should be obvious.
"If you're taking performance-enhancing drugs and you fail a drug test you have to get suspended," he said.
Meldonium has been widely used in Eastern Europe and former Soviet countries for heart conditions. But it was placed on the banned list because it enhances oxygen uptake and endurance.
Earlier this week Serena Williams said Sharapova showed courage in taking responsibility for the failed drug test.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Blathnaid Healy is the UK Editor at Mashable. She joined the company in October 2014 and is based in the London office. Before Mashable, Blathnaid was Content Manager and COO of WorldIrish, a startup focused on the Irish diaspora. She spent almost five years working at Ireland’s largest media company RTE as a multimedia journalist where she also set up the broadcaster’s first dedicated social media team and project managed output for several high-profile events across web, mobile and social media. Blathnaid has reported from the US, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Romania and, of course, Ireland. And in case you’re wondering, it’s pronounced Blan-id.
