When news of a sports doping scandal breaks, the reaction is usually swift condemnation, although with Maria Sharapova having been such a popular figure in the world of tennis the reaction has been a touch muted.

That’s unless you’re Nike of course, or former grand slam champion Jennifer Capriati. She didn’t hold back in a barrage of tweets that criticised Sharapova as SMH reports:

Capriati described herself as “disappointed”, and called for Sharapova to be stripped of her titles.

“I had to lose my career and never opted to cheat no matter what. I had to throw in the towel and suffer,” she wrote.

“I didn’t have the high priced team of [doctors] that found a way for me to cheat and get around the system and wait for science to catch up”.

Capriati appeared to defend herself from backlash she received from her comments, but her position did not change.

“What’s the point of someone taking a heart medicine that helps your heart recover faster unless you have a heart condition? Is that accurate,” she asked.

“In my opinion [if] its all true every title should be stripped. This is other people’s lives as well.”

She has been on something of a Kanye West-like rant since (her account HERE), these tweets below just a little taster:

Capriati herself has a coloured past:

She was arrested for shoplifting in Florida in 1993, early in her tennis career. She was arrested again in 1994 for marijuana possession. She also spent time in rehab in 1994…

She also made headlines after her retirement, accused by former boyfriend Ivan Brannan of punching him in 2013, and stalking him for months before that. The charges were dropped and Capriati served community service.

We’ll give the last word here to Maria, responding to the chorus of questions as to whether or not this would spell the end of career:

“If I was going to announce my retirement, it wouldn’t be in a downtown Los Angeles hotel with this fairly ugly carpet,” she said.

[source:smh]