Roger Federer backs 2-year ban on Maria Sharapova

Stuttgart (Germany): Roger Federer had no sympathy for Maria Sharapova, saying he backs a "zero tolerance" stance against doping.

Roger Federer

Sharapova was handed a two-year doping ban on Wednesday after testing positive for the banned meldonium at January's Australian Open. "I only heard the headlines, I didn't quite get into all the details but to me it's about zero tolerance," said Federer after his 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Taylor Fritz at the Stuttgart Open yesterday. "It doesn't matter if they did it on purpose or not - I don't really see the difference.

"You need to know what goes into your body, you have to be sure of what's going on, if you're not, you're gong to be damned. She's got the right to fight the case, like everybody else as well. I'm just for zero tolerance."