Let’s talk: Is Roger Federer right to support Maria Sharapova’s ban?

Roger Federer has come out and publicly said he supports Maria Sharapova’s two year ban from tennis for taking an illegal substance, much to the surprise of many.

Earlier this year Tennis champion Sharapova admitted to using a banned substance to help her performance and yesterday the Court of Arbitration for Sport announced she has been banned from the sport for two years.

Sharapova immediately said that she would be appealing the ban, citing the punishment as “unfairly harsh”.

But Federer says he supports the ban and believes that more needs to be done to stop cheats in the sport.

“It doesn’t matter if they did it on purpose or not, I don’t really see the difference,” Federer said.

“You need to know what goes into your body, you have to be 100 per cent sure of what’s going on. If you’re not, you’re going to be damned.

“I stay by my word that we should be saving blood samples for 10, 15, 20 years to come, so you have to scare away the people who think they could cheat.”

Sharapova’s case is just the latest in a long list of athletes around the world who have been caught cheating by taking drugs to boost their ability and their performance.

It seems as though the pressure to compete has become too much for many athletes, who are looking for any way possible to win the gold.

Sharapova’s ban has divided many, with some backing her and saying her punishment is to harsh, since she claims she didn’t know the drugs she was taking were banned at the time.

However, others have sided with Federer and say it’s about time people in high-profile positions learnt the consequences of their actions.

What do you think?

Is Maria Sharapova’s two-year ban too harsh? Or does she deserve to face the consequences no matter what?