Tennis world english n 45 Tennis World english 45 | Page 24

Ethics Vs
Aesthetics
The Maria
Sharapova
problem
Alessandro Mastroluca
Ethics
and
aesthetics.
Principles
and
wealth.
Opportunity
and
style.
Maria
Sharapova
divides,
polarizes
and
exasperates
in
equal
measure.
Throughout
her
long
career,
Sharapova
has
managed
to
delight
and
anger
fans
around
the
world.
Italians,
for
example,
largely
dislike
Sharapova
at
present
because
she
was
recently
handed
a
wild
card
for
the
tournament
in
Rome
ahead
of
local
favorite
Francesca
Schiavone,
who
is
in
the
final
year
of
her
illustrious
career.

Of
course,
this
situation
cannot
be
blamed
entirely
on
Sharapova.
The
tournament’s
decision
was
based
on
its
best
interests,
and
its
best
interests
involved
an
international
superstar
playing
on
its
courts.
Was
it
entirely
ethical?
Well,
that’s
debatable,
but
aesthetics
often
trumps
ethics
in
every
walk
of
life,
and
tennis
is
no
exception.
Italian
sentiment
against
Sharapova
also
took
a
hit
when
the
Russian
beat
Roberta
Vinci
in
the
first
round
of
the
Stuttgart
event,
which
was
also
her
first
tournament
back
after
the
suspension.
There,
too,
Sharapova
was
granted
a
wild
card,
a
move
which
was
also
not
without
controversy.

Unfortunately
for
Sharapova,
who
has
always
had
a
way
of
eliciting
strong
emotions
in
tennis
fans,
she
is
in
a
tough
spot
at
the
moment.
If
she
loses
a
lot
of
matches,
some
people
will
say
that
she
cannot
win
without
the
drug
she
was
banned
for
­
Meldonium.
If
she
wins
a
lot
of
matches,
many
will
wonder
aloud
if
she
has
indeed
stopped
taking
that
drug.
Perhaps,
the
argument
will
go,
she
is
taking
something
else.

An
English
journalist
recently
asked
Sharapova
what
drug
she
is
taking
instead
of
Meldonium.
After
all,
she
claimed
that
she
was
taking
it
for
health
reasons.
So,
if