Maria Sharapova is a Russian professional tennis player, who is ranked No. 9 in the world by the Women’s Tennis Association.  At the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, she won a silver medal in Women’s singles, losing the gold to American tennis star Serena Williams. Sharapova came in second place to Williams the following year at the French Open. However, Maria Sharapova has tested positive for a banned substance called Meldonium, which she has been taking for the past decade, after the substance was added to the banned list in January of this year. It was banned because WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) said there was “evidence of its use by athletes with the intention of enhancing performance.” Sharapova has claimed that she was prescribed Meldonium by her doctor in 2006 to deal with health issues such as an irregular heartbeat and a history of diabetes in her family.

Though the drug is called Meldonium, Sharapova said she had been using it under the name of Mildronate and was unaware of both the synonymous name and the fact that it is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list until she received a letter notifying her of it. Meldonium is a metabolic modulator that aids blood flow and is used to treat patients suffering from heart failure and cardiac issues. It was also found to have a positive influence on healthy athletes given it can increase endurance and aerobic capabilities, with WADA finding evidence that it had been abused for those two purposes. Two Russian rugby players, Alexei Mikhaltsov and Alena Mikhaltsov, were suspended Friday after testing positive for Meldonium, the Russian news agency, Tass, has reported. Russian figure skater Ekaterina Bobrova, short-track speed skaters Semion Elistratov and Ekaterina Konstantinova, speed skater Pavel Kulizhnikov, biathlete Eduard Latypov, volleyball player Aleksandr Markin, and cyclist Eduard Vorganov also have tested positive for the drug.

Most sports stars try to hide positive tests for performance-enhancing drugs, hoping news will not surface until a suspension is revealed. But few athletes are like Sharapova. By making herself the highest-paid female in sports, she earns more than $20 million annually through a series of high-end endorsement deals. The implication that Sharapova has been cheating could be a devastating blow to those deals. She is hoping that by being up front about it, people will believe she is being honest and really was taking Mildronate for health purposes. Meldonium was added to the 2016 Prohibited List which took effect on January 1, 2016, having previously been on WADA’s monitoring program for the duration of 2015 because of evidence of its use by athletes with the intention of enhancing performance.

Now, Sharapova’s tennis career and Olympic hopes are in jeopardy, but the player has claimed she failed to click on a link in an email that would have told her to stop taking the banned substance.”I know that with this, I face consequences,” Sharapova said, “I don’t want to end my career this way, and I really hope I will be given another chance to play this game.” Nike and Tag Heuer have become the first major sponsors to cut ties with Maria Sharapova. Porsche, which signed a three-year-deal with Sharapova to become its first female ambassador in 2013, also said it would be suspending promotional work with the player. Other endorsements that the former world No. 1 has include Avon, Evian, and Head tennis rackets, but none of these companies have commented on the situation. The investigation is still ongoing, and fans are holding out hope that she will still be able to compete in the Olympics.