Female Tennis star Maria Sharapova admitted she had tested positive for a banned drugs, Nike drops $70m contract with her

The five-times Grand Slam champion dropped the bombshell at a press conference at a Los Angeles hotel, confessing she had been caught out by tennis's anti-doping operation on Monday night. after that Nike suspended its relationship with Maria Sharapova hours after she admitted she had tested positive for a banned substance at January's Australian Open.

The highest earning athlete in any female sport said that she had been found to have taken Mildronate – or Meldonium – which was prohibited from January 1 this year. The International Tennis Federation has confirmed the star will be provisionally suspended from the sport from March 12.

However, despite this, the president of the Russian Tennis Federation has said he expects Sharapova to play in the Olympics in Brazil in August this year.  

At a press conference which many assumed would be to announce her retirement after a spate of injuries, she delivered what is catastrophic news for her, the sport and women's tennis in particular.

'I had legally been taking this for ten years,' said Sharapova, who conceded that she had received a notification from the International Tennis Federation on December 22 that it was being outlawed. She admitted that she did not follow an information link that was provided.

'I take responsibility for my professionalism in my job and I made a big mistake. I know there will be consequences and I don't want to end my career this way. I really hope I will be given another chance to play tennis again. I can't blame anyone but myself. I have let my fans down.

'I know many of you thought I was retiring but if I was ever going to announce my retirement it would probably not be in a downtown Lost Angeles hotel with this fairly ugly carpet.'

'It made me healthy and that is why I continued to take it,' Sharapova said of the banned substance after taking a small number of questions from the floor.

'I am still working through my injury and that is the reason I withdrew from Palm Springs, because I have still not healed my injury.

As a sign of what the scandal could mean for Sharapova's mass of endorsements, just hours later, she lost her most lucrative deal - an eight-year contract extended in 2010 for a reported $70million with sportswear brand Nike, where she has her own clothing line.

In a statement, the company said: 'We are saddened and surprised by the news about Maria Sharapova. We have decided to suspend our relationship with Maria while the investigation continues. We will continue to monitor the situation.'

She earns $30million a year in endorsements, according to Forbes. Current endorsements include American Express, Avon, Evian, Porsche, Tag Heuer.