Roger Federer Backs Maria Sharapova's Ban, Says No Place For Drug Cheats

Maria Sharapova was banned for two years on Wednesday and received no sympathy from fellow tennis superstar Roger Federer, who on Thursday said he backs a "zero tolerance" stance against doping.

Russian star Sharapova was handed a two-year doping ban on Wednesday after testing positive for the banned medication meldonium at January's Australian Open.

The 29-year-old admitted in March that she simply hadn't realised meldonium, which was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned substance list in January, was no longer permitted -- she had been taking the medication for 10 years.

"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 on Thursday.

"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 100 percent sure of what's going on, if you're not, you're gong to be damned.

"Of course she's got the right to fight the case, like everybody else as well. I'm just for zero tolerance.

"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.

"You have to scare them so they will not do it, so they could retroactively also be banned, and take away titles and so forth."

Meanwhile, bottled water producer Evian became the latest sponsor to stand by Sharapova despite her ban.