The wolves are circling, Maria Sharapova’s admission that she failed a drugs test at this year’s Australian Open causing a swift backlash around the world.

Sponsors dropping out (HERE), former players like Jennifer Capriati going off on Twitter tirades (HERE), it’s been a rocky few days for the woman who has long been considered the queen of women’s tennis.

Now it was Capriati herself who said that Sharapova should be stripped of every title, although the biggest name to lend support Maria’s way comes from a rather unlikely source.

Serena Williams and Sharapova have something of an awkward past, the 2012 incident outlined below on SI:

The beef stems from an interview that Williams gave to Rolling Stone in the spring, in which she appeared to take a veiled dig at Sharapova’s relationship with ATP pro Grigor Dimitrov. In response, Sharapova brought up Williams’ unconfirmed relationship with her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou.

“If she wants to talk about something personal, maybe she should talk about her relationship and her boyfriend that was married and is getting a divorce and has kids,” Sharapova said during her pre-tournament news conference at Wimbledon. “She has so much in her life, many positives, and I think that’s what it should be about.”

Given that exchange you’d be forgiven for being surprised at Serena’s response to the doping scandal, with this from the New York Post:

“I think like everyone else said most people were surprised and shocked by Maria,” said Williams…while promoting her Madison Square Garden exhibition against Caroline Wozniacki.

“Most people were happy that she was upfront and very honest and showed a lot of courage to admit to what she had done and what she had neglected to look at in terms of the list at the end of the year … It’s just taking the responsibility, which she was willing to do and ready to. I hope for the best for everyone in that situation.”

One person who wasn’t so forgiving was rival Caroline Wozniacki:

“Any time we take medication, we double and triple check because sometimes even things like cough drops and nasal sprays can be on the list,” Wozniacki said. “As athletes, we always make sure to really make sure there’s nothing in it that could put us in a bad situation.”

Looks like support may be few and far between in the coming months for poor Maria.

For a look at exactly what meldonium is, the banned substance she tested positive for, click HERE.

[sources:si,newyorkpost]