The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Tuesday reduced tennis player Maria Sharapova's two-year ban for doping to 15 months, starting from January 26, 2016. She had approached the court after an independent tribunal of the International Tennis Federation had suspended her for two years for testing positive for banned drug meldonium. She had argued that she had not taken the substance to enhance her performance.

The CAS panel hearing the case between and the ITF ruled that Sharapova had committed an anti-doping rule violation with "no significant fault". However, it noted her failure to make sure whether the medication she had been taking as prescribed by her doctor complied with anti-doping rules.

ITF had suspended the former World No 1 provisionally in early March, after she announced at a press conference that she had failed a doping test in January, before the Australian Open. Sharapova had said she had been unaware that the World Anti-Doping Agency had barred athletes from using meldonium, and that she had been taking the drug – also known as mildronate – for 10 years, as prescribed by her family doctor.