Maria Sharapova will appeal after her two-year doping ban leaves career and reputation in tatters

MARIA SHARAPOVA will appeal against her two-year doping ban.

But the former Wimbledon champion’s career and reputation are in tatters after a damning verdict on her failed drug test at the Australian Open.

The International Tennis Federation failed in a bid to have Sharapova banned for the maximum four years, because the anti-doping panel found she had not intentionally taken the banned substance, meldonium.

But the panel decided the Russian, 29, should serve the full two-year suspension for an unintentional breach of rules and concluded: “She is the sole author of her own downfall.”

Sharapova, who will now take her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, said: “I cannot accept an unfairly harsh two-year suspension.

“I intend to stand for what I believe is right and that’s why I will fight to be back on the tennis court as soon as possible.”

Sharapova claimed she had been taking heart drug meldonium, which she knew under the brand name Mildronate, for 10 years to treat a range of medical conditions.

But the panel found “she was regularly using Mildronate in competition for performance enhancement” – including at Wimbledon in 2015 and before all five of her matches at this year’s Australian Open.

Sharapova failed SEVEN times in 15 months to declare she was taking Mildronate when she filled in doping control forms requiring a list of all medications and supplements she had taken in the previous seven days – despite mentioning vitamins and supplements.

She also kept her use of the drug secret from everyone but manager Max Eisenbud and both of them neglected their duty to check for changes in the list of banned substances.

Meldonium was outlawed by the World Anti-Doping Agency from January 1, a fact publicised by the ITF on its website last December.