August 2002. That defeat to Vekic in Melbourne would prove to be Sharapova's final match of her career, as on 26 February 2020, Sharapova announced her retirement from tennis. In an essay in Vanity Fair, Sharapova wrote: "I'm new to this, so please forgive me. Tennis – I'm saying goodbye. But as I embark on my next chapter, I want anyone who dreams of excelling in anything to know that doubt and judgement are inevitable. You will fail hundreds of times and the world will watch you. Accept it. Trust yourself. I promise you that you will prevail." WADA substance controversy On 7 March 2016, Sharapova revealed that she had failed a drug test at the 2016 Australian Open, which she described as the result of an oversight. Sharapova admitted to testing positive for meldonium, an anti-ischemic drug usually prescribed for heart conditions that was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)'s banned substances list on 1 January 2016. Sharapova was provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) from playing tennis effective from March 12, 2016. She later released a statement regarding the test and explaining her use of the medicine: I received a letter from the ITF that I failed a drugs test at the Australian Open. I take full responsibility for it. For the past ten years I have been given a medicine called mildronate by my family doctor and a few days ago after I received the ITF letter I found out that it also has another name of meldonium which I did not know. It is very important for you to understand that for ten years this medicine was not on WADA's banned list and I had legally been taking the medicine for the past ten years. But on January 1st [2016] the rules had changed and meldonium became a prohibited substance which I had not known. I was given this medicine by my doctor for several health issues that I was having in 2006. Meldonium is not approved for use in the United States, Sharapova's country of residence; however, it is legal to use in Russia, the country that Sharapova represents in tennis. The drug's inventor Ivars Kalviņš said that he did not think taking it should be construed as "doping", but he also said that it "is very popular among athletes" and was used by the Soviet military for "optimizing the use of