Sharapova, who turns 29 next month, said she had been taking the drug for a decade but had failed to read communications from the World Anti-Doping Authority, which added meldonium to its prohibited list on Jan. 1. The drug, which Sharapova said she took for medical problems, is thought to boost blood flow to the heart.
She has been provisionally suspended and faces a ban of as long as four years. Her fate rests with whether she and her lawyers can show she did not take the drug intentionally for performance-enhancing purposes.
Sharapova expressed shock but took full responsibility for the error, saying, “I don’t want to end my career this way, and I really hope I will be given another chance to play this game.