Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova shared her happiness at returning to the sport, Wednesday, after beating Roberta Vinci in the first round of the Stuttgart Open in Germany, her first match since the end of her doping ban. Sharapova came back to the court for the first time in 15 months, after failing a drug test at the Australian Open in 2016. She had been taking the drug ‘Meldonium,' which had been given to her by her family doctor for the past 10 years and was not on the banned substances list for that period.
Meldonium was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned substances on Jan. 1, 2016. It is used medically to treat ischemia, or a lack of blood flow.
