Image source: cirodelia47 via Flickr

Tennis star Maria Sharapova, the highest paid female athlete in the world, has mounted a PR come back.

The International Tennis Association (ITA) had banned the Russian tennis player from the sport for two years after she tested positive for meldonium, also known by its brand name Mildronate, which the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the ITA added to its banned substances list in January. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reduced that sanction to 15 months. Sharapova, now 29, will return to the professional tennis circuit next April before the French Open.

Mildronate is a limited-market pharmaceutical that was commonly used by many athletes from Eastern Europe to prevent ischemia, which causes a shortage of oxygen in cells.

Sharapova argued she committed an honest mistake. She was taking the medication for health reasons, not to enhance performance. Many believe that Sharapova’s carefully-nurtured reputation for clean living and her likable personality helped sway public opinion and the appeal decision in her favor. Reputation and likability matter when a PR crisis occurs, they say.

Exemplary PR Crisis Management

Sharapova’s response to the originally-announced brand also probably helped her appeal. As a celebrity brand, Sharapova acted as large brands might in attempting to manage a PR crisis. She humbly apologized and took full responsibility for not checking the banned list.

However, when appealing to the CAS, Sharapova and her lawyers argued that the ITA’s instructions and list of banned substances were unclear and not properly disseminated to players and their handlers.

The CAS mostly sided with Sharapova. It concluded that while she bore some fault, she could not be considered “an intentional doper.”  That’s an essential distinction.

The CAS also faulted the tennis organization. Its ruling stated: “anti-doping organisations should have to take reasonable steps to provide notice to athletes of significant changes to the Prohibited List, such as the addition of a substance, including its brand names.”

“The I.T.F. didn’t put up a ‘No Left Turn,’” Sharapova told The New York Times in criticizing the organization for improper and inadequate notification of players. “A sign wasn’t even there; it wasn’t even behind a tree. It was complete false advertisement. It was like it was written on a second-grade piece of paper, folded up and glued to a tree.”

Going on the Offense

Her attorney John Haggerty called the ruling “a stunning repudiation of the ITF,” according to Sporting Live. “CAS striking down the ITF ruling is another in a growing list of cases where CAS has determined that the ITF Tribunal’s decision was wrong,” he said. “In fact, the last time CAS upheld an ITF ruling was way back in 2009.”

The strategy of going on the offensive to move attention from his client to the tennis organization apparently succeeded. Sharapova says she is being vocal in criticizing the I.T.F, not to gloat, but to help assure that the anti-doping bodies for all sports act more responsibly in the future in notifying players of changes in the anti-doping rules and medication lists.

“The game’s governing body – one whose independent panel had initially ruled that Sharapova was the ‘sole author of her own misfortune’ – suddenly found itself under fire as the Russian’s public-relations machine vented its fury,” Sporting Life commented.

Her Brand will Probably Recover

Although there are plenty of skeptics, Sharapova’s image is likely to recover and her brand will soon be as valuable as ever, especially if she performs as well on the tennis court as in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Just as important from a financial perspective, the ruling in Sharapova’s favor enabled her to retain her sponsors, including large brands like Nike and Porsche. Brands sometimes face difficult decisions when a sports star or other celebrity suffers a scandal or encounters controversy. They must decide if they should abandon a beneficial relationship. If they don’t act quickly they can be viewed as lacking backbone. In this case, they ultimately stuck with the athlete.

“Sports fans, in particular, have long been a forgiving lot, especially if people they already find likeable are willing to apologize for their mistakes,” stated ESPN columnist Johnette Howard.

Most recently, she’s been posting photos and video on Twitter of herself training on the court and in the gym.

Bottom Line: Tennis star Maria Sharapova demonstrated how a celebrity can weather a scandal through astute PR responses. Quick action to apologize and assume responsibility followed by an aggressive defense of her actions were instrumental in maintaining her image and returning her to the sport soon than expected.

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William Comcowich

William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.