The wrong Daria won today. Neither of the Timeas. And I'm still disappointed in the CAS decision yesterday. A bad start of the day for me...
*on the CAS decision, I know Maria has some fans around here, and probably whatever I say won't make them change their mind... Maybe because you see this from the perspective of "Maria the victim". But I see it from the perspective of all the players that lost to her because of Meldonium, in tight 3-setters. Just look at RG'14:
R4: Stosus wins S1 6-3, then loses S2 by a game, then can't keep up with Pova in the 3rd
QF: Muguruza wins S1 6-1 (!), loses S2 by a game, then can't keep up with Pova in the 3rd
SF: Bouchard wins S1 6-4, loses S2 by a game, then can't keep with with Pova in the 3rd
F: a bit of a different pattern with Simo losing R1, but it's hard to deny Pova's improved stamina after that (in)famous bathroom break that killed Simo's momentum. Simo did however manage to keep up with Pova in the 3rd till 4-4, losing only by a game (with stamina being one of the factors that tilted the difference).
It wasn't only Simona (arguably) robbed of the money & title. Every opponent as of Stosur was (arguably) robbed of money and chance for the title. And that's just 1 tournament. Think of AO'15 where she saved MP against Panova in R2. It's very possible that without Meldonium she wouldn't have saved that MP, and consequently the tournament (and money won) would have looked much different for Panova, Diyas, Peng, Bouchard and/or Makarova. I know defenders argue that it was legal back then. But it's clear as night and day from the ITF report, from the way she was hiding the use of it from her own team, that she was consciously taking it as a PED. So LEGALLY she deserved 2 years already. But ETHICALLY she would have deserved even more. Which is why I feel tennis (and sports in general) lost a bit yesterday.