If you're waiting for Maria Sharapova to fire back at criticism leveled at her by Canadian tennis star Eugenie Bouchard, you may have to clear your schedule.
You'll be waiting a while.
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Sharapova, who was banned from tennis for 15 months after testing positive for meldonium at the Australian Open in 2016, wrote in The Players' Tribune this week that she would take "the high road" in the face of Bouchard calling the 30-year-old a "cheater."
Bouchard, Canada's top-ranked women's player, originally made the remarks earlier this year, after Sharapova rejoined the women's tour, and reiterated her stance this week.
“I got asked a question and I couldn’t answer it not honestly,” Bouchard told Sportsnet on Tuesday.
The Canadian was the most outspoken of Sharapova's critics, culminating in an intense match between Bouchard and the former world No. 1 at the Madrid Open in May.
Bouchard won.
“I went out and once I got on the court, I put everything else to the side and I just wanted to play as well as I could," Bouchard told Sportsnet. "I definitely had a little bit of extra motivation to kind of do it for all of us who have been fair to the sport and who have played the sport the true way it’s meant to be played.”
Now, with the two players set to play in the Rogers Cup in Toronto in 10 days, Sharapova has addressed Bouchard's criticisms.
Well, sort of.
Without naming names, the Russian acknowledged remarks by Bouchard and others as "hurtful," but elected not to fire back.
"I’m not oblivious,' Sharapova wrote. |"I’m aware of what many of my peers have said about me, and how critical of me some of them have been in the press. If you’re a human being with a normal, beating heart, you know … I don’t think that sort of thing will ever fully be possible to ignore. And I don’t think it will ever not be weird or hurtful to go through.
"But at the same time … I’ve always tried to keep a generous attitude toward critics in general — whoever they are, and whenever they’ve been there. I’ve never wanted to respond to the people trashing me by trashing them back; that’s always been important to me. I’ve always wanted to respond by showing grace — something I learned from my mom, one of the most graceful and elegant people I know. I’ve always wanted to face my critics by simply taking the high road. And by showing them, by showing everyone, that taking the high road is a choice."
Sharapova doubled down on her pledge to not "get a few jabs in" in response to the criticism, instead declaring a respect for all of her opponents on the WTA tour.
"The off-court negativity … it’s just not something that I have in me. It’s tricky to explain. And it’s even trickier to understand; I get that. It’s so internal. But in the end, in my heart, I honestly do have so much respect and admiration for everyone on tour — including my critics.
"And eventually I hope they’ll change their minds, and have the same for me."