(CNN)Maria Sharapova, who has long been the world's richest female athlete, will be suspended from tennis after she admitted to failing a drug test at the Australian Open in January.
A sombre looking Sharapova, in a press conference in Los Angeles on Monday, said she had been taking the drug, meldonium, ever since 2006 and didn't realize that it became a banned substance by the World Anti-Doping Agency at the start of 2016.
The International Tennis Federation, about an hour after her admission, said on its website that the 28-year-old would be provisionally banned from March 12 "pending determination of the case." The usual penalty for first-time offenders is two years.
Maria Sharapova fails drug test - CNN.com