Maria Sharapova revealed she had failed a drugs test on this day in 2016.

The former world number one and five-time grand slam champion shocked tennis by announcing she had tested positive for meldonium at the Australian Open.

Sharapova explained she had been taking the substance since 2006 for an irregular heartbeat and a history of diabetes in her family and claimed not to have realised the medicine had been added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list at the beginning of 2016.

Then aged 28, Russian Sharapova was provisionally suspended from March 12, with Nike halting its sponsorship until the investigation was complete.

In a press conference at a hotel in Los Angeles, Sharapova said: “For the past 10 years, I have been given a medicine called mildronate by my family doctor, and a few days ago, after I received the ITF letter, I found out that it also has another name of meldonium, which I did not know.

“I failed the test and I take full responsibility for it. I let my fans down, I let the sport down that I have been playing since the age of four and I love so deeply.

“I know with this I face consequences and I don’t want to end my career this way and I really hope I will be given another chance to play this game.”

Sharapova was initially banned for two years but this was reduced to 15 months on appeal.

The former Wimbledon champion returned to competitive tennis in April 2017 before retiring in February 2020.

Rafael Nadal says he has made the “tough” decision to withdraw from Indian Wells as he is not yet “ready to play at the highest level”.

The 22-time grand slam singles winner has been off the tour since suffering a muscle injury in Brisbane in January.

He was set to mark his return with a first-round match at the BNP Paribas Open against Canada’s Milos Raonic on Friday.

However in a post on social media, the 37-year-old Spaniard said he is not yet ready to compete.

“It is with great sadness that I have to withdraw from this amazing tournament at Indian Wells,” he said.

“Everyone knows how much I love this place and how much I love to play here. That’s also one of the reasons why I came very early to the desert to practice and try to get ready.

“I have been working hard and practicing and you all know I took a test this weekend but I don’t find myself ready to play at the highest level at such an important event.

“It is not an easy decision, it’s a tough one as a matter of fact but I can’t lie to myself and lie to the thousands of fans.

“I will miss you all and I am sure the tournament will be a great success.”

Nadal has been replaced in the draw by India’s world number 101 Sumit Nagal.

Nadal made his comeback at the Brisbane International in January after spending a year on the sidelines due to a long-term hip problem.

The Spaniard sustained a muscle tear near his hip in his quarter-final defeat to Jordan Thompson in Brisbane, but scans revealed it was not in the same area.

Andy Murray produced an accomplished display to beat David Goffin in straight sets and progress to the second round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Murray had won his previous seven meetings with the Belgian, but entered this clash in poor form and revealed last week it was likely he would end his decorated tennis career this summer.

The three-time grand-slam champion appeared rejuvenated following his announcement in Dubai and put in one of his best displays of the year to claim a routine 6-3 6-2 victory, which sets up a last-64 clash with Andrey Rublev.

In a nip-and-tuck first set, Murray had to be patient after a break point in Goffin’s opening service game was held before he was able to strike when 4-3 up.

Murray claimed his first break of the match in the eighth game and sent down two aces to seal a 34-minute opener where he won the final 10 points.

The momentum was with the British number four now and a double-fault by Goffin handed him an early advantage in the second set.

World number 61 Murray continued to ask questions of Goffin’s serve and a second break arrived to put him on the verge of a place in the last-64, which was sealed with an ace.

Compatriot Jack Draper suffered disappointment as he lost in three sets to Chris O’Connell in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open.

British prospect Draper had defeated Murray on his way to the last 16 of the tournament in 2023 but lost six games in a row in the final set to go down 1-6 6-3 6-2 to his Australian opponent.

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It continued a frustrating period for Draper, who made the semi-finals of the Mexican Open last week but had to retire during his last-four clash with eventual champion Alex de Minaur.

Draper initially showed no ill-effects after he had battled food poisoning in Acapulco and eventually edged a lengthy fourth game to go 3-1 up before he saved a number of break points to consolidate his advantage.

Another break followed to allow the world number 37 to take the opener 6-1 but he sent down two double faults at the start of the second to hand O’Connell the initiative.

The Aussie did not look back and forced a decider, which started with Draper saving four break points before he broke to go 2-0 up.

Draper ran out of gas though, with world number 66 O’Connell booking a second-round meeting with Alexander Zverev.

Pep Guardiola feels his Manchester City side are playing like a team that believes they can win the Champions League again.

The City boss also saluted the team’s consistency after they secured their place in the quarter-finals of Europe’s elite club competition with a comfortable victory over FC Copenhagen.

City eased to a 3-1 win in the second leg of their last-16 tie at the Etihad Stadium to complete a convincing 6-2 aggregate success.

Guardiola said: “We are a team that believes we can do it. Listen, we’re competing with Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, but the important thing is that seven years in a row we are here. Consistency.

“I felt the people when we arrived from a club like Barcelona and Bayern Munich – where they demand to always be there – I felt the club, not the players, didn’t feel it.

“We are here because we needed time. People, managers don’t get time, hierarchies don’t get time. But they gave us time to lose against Monaco, lose against Liverpool, lose against Tottenham – all (part of) the process to do it, because when a team comes from never ever being in that position, you cannot do it.

“It is easy for clubs that have big history – start with the best ones, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, Bayern Munich or Man United – they have been used to it.

“You need time and they gave me time. Now we are in a process where we can lose, definitely, but we can compete everywhere because we’ve come from the final, semi-final, final, now the quarter-finals again. That means our consistency in Europe.”

A much-changed City largely went through the motions after early goals from Manuel Akanji and Julian Alvarez put them on course.

Mohamed Elyounoussi pulled one back for the spirited Danes but they were ultimately outclassed and Erling Haaland’s 29th goal of the campaign wrapped up the scoring.

Guardiola said: “We went through against a difficult team. Bayern Munich felt it, Man United felt it, and Galatasaray. They are a difficult opponent, well organised.

“To win the titles we need everyone and we used them. I am really pleased for the performance. People may expect a lot of things but I know how difficult it is.”

Copenhagen coach Jacob Neestrup felt his players could hold their heads high after what has been a memorable European campaign for the European champions having progressed from a tough group.

He said: “I could not ask for more from my players. I am proud of the campaign we had in the group stage and we advanced to play the best team in the world. I am filled up with pride.

“Obviously, you need to do everything you can because these are moments in your life you will not get back.”

QPR boss Marti Cifuentes refused to point the finger at the match officials after a controversial 2-2 draw at home to West Brom.

Trailing 2-1 early in the second half, relegation-threatened Rangers missed a penalty and should have been awarded another.

Michael Frey’s spot-kick was saved by Alex Palmer shortly before Sam Field’s header appeared to have been superbly tipped over by the goalkeeper or cleared off the line by defender Cedric Kipre.

However, replays showed that Kipre used his hand – an offence which would almost certainly have resulted in a red card as well as a penalty had it been spotted.

Justice was done when Field, who also scored the first goal, headed in a late equaliser against his former club to earn a point.

“I’ve been told that West Brom played with two keepers for a while,” Cifuentes quipped.

“I’m not here to complain. I’m here to make sure my team is better, so if we need to play against two keepers then we need to practice playing against two keepers.

“Football is a game with mistakes and unfortunately refs can make mistakes as well. They have a very difficult job – the second most difficult job, after being a manager.

“On the pitch I thought their keeper made an amazing save – I mean the real keeper. That shows you how difficult the referee’s job is. I was shown it (on video) afterwards.”

The draw moved Rangers up a place, to 19th in the Championship, and extended their unbeaten run to four matches.

“We created a lot of chances and could have scored more goals,” Cifuentes said.

“We need to be brave and have belief in ourselves. When we are brave then we play better.

“I’m sure that we are going to pick up points between now and the end of the season. I see progress.”

Play-off hopefuls West Brom extended their cushion over seventh-placed Norwich to five points.

Boss Carlos Corberan said: “I’m pleased with a point, because for me a point was the maximum result we could have achieved today. The value of the point is very high.

“Of course you don’t want to (have to) defend as much as we were defending in the second half. We want to attack more and not concede that number of chances.

“For me, analysing this game, the best way to defend was to attack. In the first half we attacked enough but in the second half when we lost the ball we were close to losing the game.

“We were defending a lot. They had a lot of set-pieces and we weren’t active enough to stop them. They had more clear chances than the (second) goal.

“We lost the ball more times than we should have and gave them the option to attack us. We defended a lot and it was not enough to stop them.”

Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick welcomed a much-needed win for his side as they beat 10-man Norwich 3-1 at the Riverside Stadium.

The Canaries went ahead through Ashley Barnes but their dominant opening period was cut short when Borja Sainz was sent off in the 30th minute.

And Boro were able to capitalise, levelling just eight minutes after the dismissal with Marcus Forss stabbing home from close range.

An unmarked Emmanuel Latte Lath then tucked the ball into the bottom left corner just before half-time and Lukas Engel’s first-time effort wrapped up victory in the second period.

Victory saw Boro earn their first Championship win at home since December and Carrick admitted the result was all that mattered.

He said: “It was a good result for us. We needed a win, we needed a result. I think we needed something to go our way, which we haven’t really had much lately.

“The red card is a moment. I thought we were just starting to find our feet a little bit, we found it tough at the start of the game, but we dealt with the sending off really well actually.

“It’s not easy to deal with, playing against 10 men, but I thought the boys approached that really well and the spell before half-time put the game in our direction.

“I haven’t seen (the red card) back, but it didn’t really matter and the performance didn’t have to be perfect tonight.

“We needed to get that feeling back for everyone and the boys especially and I’m delighted we managed to do that.”

Norwich boss David Wagner hinted that the club may appeal against the red card, but would not comment further on the decision.

“I’ve seen it back, but to be fair I don’t really like to give any comments, I like to leave it with the guys who make the decisions,” he said.

“It looks like we maybe appeal it, then this speaks for itself.

“I know that sometimes the angle and vision on the pitch from a referee could be different, then you see it in your way and sometimes the decision is not the right one, if it makes sense.

“But at the end of the day, he gave the red card because he has seen something.”

Norwich missed the chance to climb into the play-off places.

And Wagner was left frustrated on a night when he felt his team had started to produce one of their best away performances of the campaign.

“A frustrating last 60 minutes of the game and a fantastic first 30 minutes,” he added.

“I think the first 30 minutes were one of our best away performances so far.

“We totally controlled and dominated the opponent, super strong in the counter-press, good in the defence, played very good football.

“Got the lead, had the chance to score even more with Dimitris Giannoulis’ chance and Ashley Barnes’ clear-cut chance as well, then obviously the red card changed the game totally.”

Ronnie O’Sullivan vowed to pocket the golden ball next year after beating Luca Brecel in the final of the inaugural World Masters of Snooker.

O’Sullivan beat the world champion 5-2 in Saudi Arabia to win his fifth title of the campaign.

But his victory did not include potting the golden ball, which sits on the bottom cushion for as long as a maximum break is possible and is worth £395,000 if potted in addition to the 147.

John Higgins came the closest to getting a shot on the golden ball throughout the tournament in Riyadh, but having potted all 15 reds and blacks in the first frame of his second-round match against Mark Williams he ran out of position on the yellow.

O’Sullivan, who pocketed £250,000 by winning the tournament, is keen to achieve the feat at next year’s event.

“It’s been a fantastic tournament, a fantastic venue, the crowd have been amazing,” O’Sullivan told DAZN.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve been to the Middle East and to be back here is a treat.

“I’ll get the golden ball next year. I didn’t want to take it all at once.

“I’ll take the tournament this year and then the golden ball next year. It’ll be great.”

O’Sullivan had a break of 95 to take the opening frame but Brecel came back strong in the second to level.

The Belgian took a quickfire third frame with a break of 81 to edge into the lead but a missed black in the next allowed O’Sullivan to tie things up again with a 94 clearance.

And O’Sullivan raced to victory after the interval, with breaks of 121 and 124 securing a 79th professional title.

Runner-up Brecel said: “It’s been a fantastic few days. I’ve really enjoyed playing and I think the crowd has been fantastic.”

Erol Bulut welcomed the return of Cardiff’s confidence after the Bluebirds moved within seven points of the Championship play-offs by beating Huddersfield.

Famara Diedhiou’s first-half finish secured a 1-0 victory as Cardiff claimed three consecutive wins for the first time since September.

“The last four games, I’m happy,” Bulut said after taking a 10 points from those matches.

“We are performing – it was not easy after the Bristol City win on Saturday, a derby – and we have to think positive.

“If you win games you feel much better. The last games we get our confidence back and it looks much better.

“We have 10 games to play and hopefully we can show much more.

“But I don’t think about play-offs right now. We take every game by game and at the end we see what we are going to get.

“There is 30 points (to play for) and we are trying to get the maximum.”

Senegal striker Diedhiou joined Cardiff on loan in January from Spanish club Granada.

It was the 31-year-old’s first Championship goal since bagging a brace for Bristol City in a 3-1 success at Middlesbrough on February 23, 2021.

Bulut said Diedhiou was unhappy at being omitted from Cardiff’s 1-0 Ashton Gate win against his former club on Saturday.

“Famara was expecting to play the last game against his old team, he was angry but he kept it for today,” said Bulut.

“He has played four years in the Championship and scored more than 50 goals at Bristol City.

“He has the experience. He showed that it is a good start and I hope he can continue like that.”

Huddersfield remain in relegation peril, above the bottom three only through having scored more goals than 22nd-placed Stoke.

“There are reasons why we are 21st in the table and in the last few years nearly the same,” Andre Breitenreiter said after his first defeat as Huddersfield head coach following a win at Watford and a draw against Leeds.

“It is not possible to change things in two weeks. But I learned a lot about the team and observed many things we should change because we are fighting for our lives to stay in the league.

“We need the same performance from the last two games and this was a day we should forget as soon as possible.

“I could have changed everyone after the first half, it was too slow and it was too easy for Cardiff to create chances.

“The second half we controlled the game and had big chances but you don’t deserve to get a point when it’s not 100 per cent.”

Katie Boulter was brought back down to earth with a straight-sets loss to Camila Giorgi in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Boulter arrived at the tournament riding a crest of a wave after she secured a maiden WTA 500 title at the San Diego Open to continue her excellent 2024.

It earned the British number one a new career-best ranking of 27, but her momentum was checked after a 6-3 6-2 loss in quick fashion to Italian opponent Giorgi.

Giorgi entered this match in poor form and early breaks were exchanged between the duo before the first set went the way of the 32-year-old in 40 minutes.

After Giorgi claimed a decisive second break to edge the opener 6-3, two early breaks handed her the initiative at the start of the next set.

Boulter did finally get off the mark to make it 4-1 but there was no way back and she exited after a 78-minute loss.

Watford manager Valerien Ismael refused to criticise goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann and defender Ryan Andrews for the clanger that left Watford having to come back from behind to secure a 1-1 draw at home to Swansea.

Ismael opted to drop previous first choice Ben Hamer and restore Bachmann to the starting line-up for the first time in the league since November 28.

But the Austrian was the key man in an 18th-minute mix-up that gifted the visitors the lead.

Andrews stopped Przemyslaw Placheta from reaching a long ball into the inside left channel from Matt Grimes by heading the ball back towards his goalkeeper.

But Bachmann had come rushing off his line without the right-back realising – and both were left watching in horror as the ball bounced into an empty net.

Ismael said: “It was a lack of communication. It has happened – unfortunately. There is no antidote against making mistakes in football.

“At half-time we had to clear the air and then we spoke positively. At the minute this is really tough – it is a challenge – but we cannot drop mentally.

“We came back into the game so it is step after step. Just at the minute we need to get all the positives that we can get – and I think we will become stronger after this period.”

Bachmann made two good saves after that however – first to deny Ronald on the half-hour mark after the Brazilian had caught Jamal Lewis in possession and then to stop a close-range header by Ben Cabango near the end of the first half.

Ismael added: “When you are in difficult situations you have to make changes so we changed players, in the first half the way to play and a lot of things on the training ground, including the schedule just to make sure the players were aware about the situation.

“Every player is involved and for me the keeper position is like an outfield player – it should be possible to change the keeper just to keep everyone involved.”

Watford levelled in the 57th minute from a corner that was swung into the box by Giorgi Chakvetadze, who had replaced Ken Sema just before the break.

Wesley Hoedt flicked it on at near post with centre-back Porteous appearing to divert it over the line from close range.

Watford dropped to 13th spot – two places above Swansea, whose manager Luke Williams has seen his side pick up seven points from the last three games to edge away from the drop zone.

He said: “I felt at half time we could have been in front by another goal but Watford were really aggressive in the second half and we deserved a point each.

“We were value for a goal even though it was fortunate in the way it came about.

“We are feeling in a good place and in all three games we performed to a pretty good level but there is no doubt that we have a long way to go to being the best team we can be.

“We have been 2-0 up, 2-0 up and 1-0 up at half-time so we have to make better performances in the second 45 minutes. This is an obvious one.

“In the second half we have to either maintain our level or find a way to control the game better – that is what we have to learn.

“Overall we have been competitive outside the really top sides in the division.”

Real Madrid endured a nervy night against RB Leipzig before they booked their place in the Champions League quarter-finals with a 2-1 win on aggregate after a 1-1 second-leg draw.

Carlo Ancelotti’s team held a one-goal lead from the first game in Germany on February 13, but came close to exiting in the last-16 stage only for Lois Openda to miss several chances while Dani Olmo hit the crossbar in stoppage time.

It meant Vinicius Junior’s 65th-minute opener, after a superb assist by Jude Bellingham, proved decisive with Leipzig’s equaliser via Willi Orban not enough to earn Marco Rose’s men a famous European victory.

Bellingham started days after his red card at Valencia following the controversial decision by referee Jesus Gil Manzano to blow for full-time before his headed effort could count as a last-gasp winner.

Leipzig had created plenty of chances in the first leg and should have put the ball in the net with 10 minutes played when Benjamin Sesko was sent through, but Andriy Lunin made a simple save and the offside flag was raised.

Vinicius diverted an effort over the crossbar with his chest soon after, which proved a rare venture into the Germans’ half in a one-sided first 45 minutes.

Openda curled wide moments later before his golden chance arrived in the 16th minute, but he dragged wide after an excellent ball by Olmo.

The Bernabeu crowd were already restless and a blocked Bellingham effort failed to turn the tide, with Paris St Germain loanee Xavi Simons next to test Lunin.

Simons was involved again three minutes before the break when his corner picked out Openda, who brushed the side-netting with his wayward shot from inside the area.

Whistles followed at half-time and Ancelotti reacted with Rodrygo introduced, but the visitors continued to create chances with Openda able to round Lunin before his decision to cut back inside allowed the Madrid goalkeeper to dive at his feet.

Madrid frustration boiled over when Vinicius was booked for shoving Orban to the ground, but he almost created the opener on the hour mark with a great run only for Bellingham’s scuffed effort to hit Rodrygo before a Toni Kroos shot was parried away.

Ancelotti’s team had finally started to move up the gears and the breakthrough occurred with 65 minutes played.

Bellingham was at the heart of the move, carrying the ball half the length of the pitch before he found Vinicius, who made an excellent run and rifled into the corner.

Any chance that Leipzig would fold was dispelled when Antonio Rudiger deflected a shot from Simons wide, which sparked big celebrations with Bellingham.

It was the visitors celebrating with 22 minutes left though when David Raum’s cross was headed in by Leipzig captain Orban to set up a grandstand finish.

Rose urged his team to press forward for a decisive second and Olmo sent a shot wide before Orban headed another chance over.

Leipzig pushed for a final opportunity, which did arrive in stoppage time but Olmo’s side-footed effort hit the top of the crossbar and bounced over to ensure Madrid progressed.

Sam Field boosted QPR’s Championship survival hopes by scoring a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw against his former club West Brom on an emotional and controversial night at Loftus Road.

Field opened the scoring on night where QPR paid tribute to club great Stan Bowles, who died last month.

Promotion-chasing West Brom quickly turned the game around with two goals in three minutes from Mikey Johnston and Grady Diangana.

QPR missed one penalty before they were denied another when Cedric Kipre appeared to use his hand to stop the ball going into the net.

But Field levelled with nine minutes left to earn the hosts a draw which moved them a point clear of the bottom three.

Loftus Road held a minute’s applause for Bowles before kick-off and there was a mosaic in his honour in the stand named after him, while members of his family attended along with team-mates from the 1975-76 side who were pipped to the league title by Liverpool.

The hosts went ahead after 17 minutes. Alex Palmer spilled Ilias Chair’s shot from the edge of the box and Michael Frey went down under the goalkeeper’s challenge looking for a penalty, before Lucas Andersen retrieved the loose ball and squared it for Field to score from close range.

Rangers seemed to be in control but the tide suddenly turned, with Johnston continuing his fine form since his loan move from Celtic.

Johnston is gaining a reputation for scoring spectacular goals and he struck another after 25 minutes to haul Albion level.

He cut in from the left, past Jimmy Dunne and Paul Smyth, and sent a cracking strike beyond goalkeeper Asmir Begovic and in off the near post.

Diangana, who like Johnston scored in a 2-1 win over Coventry on Friday, then put the visitors ahead two minutes later.

Tom Fellows did superbly on the right and picked out Diangana, who took a touch to ease himself away from Andersen and then fired past Begovic.

Early in the second half, Rangers missed a penalty and should have been awarded another.

After Adam Reach blocked Andersen’s right-wing cross with his elbow, the resulting spot-kick by Frey was saved by Palmer.

A couple of minutes later, Field’s header from Dunne’s cross initially appeared to have been superbly tipped over by Palmer or cleared off the line by Kipre. Replays showed that Kipre used his hand to prevent a goal – an offence which would almost certainly have resulted in a red card as well as a penalty had it been spotted.

But Rangers went on to find their equaliser. After Chris Willock’s cross was headed back across goal by Steve Cook, Dunne headed against the bar and Field followed up to nod home.

And there was more late drama when centre-back Cook’s overhead kick was cleared off the line by ex-QPR man Darnell Furlong.

Erling Haaland netted his 29th goal of the season as Manchester City eased into the Champions League quarter-finals with a 3-1 victory over Copenhagen as Real Madrid battled past RB Leipzig.

The Norway international found the net after early strikes from Manuel Akanji and Julian Alvarez at the Etihad Stadium to ease the holders to a 6-2 aggregate win.

Defender Akanji volleyed City into a fifth-minute lead from Alvarez’s corner and it was 2-0 within four minutes when, after Rodri’s header had come back of the crossbar, Copenhagen goalkeeper Kamil Grabara palmed Alvarez’s follow-up into his own net.

Mohamed Elyounoussi reduced the deficit with 29 minutes gone when he fed Orri Oskarsson and then ran on to his back-heeled return to fire past Ederson but Haaland restored the home side’s cushion in first-half stoppage time.

Willi Orban ensured Real Madrid suffered a nervous conclusion at the Bernabeu Stadium as they edged into the last eight after a 1-1 draw with RB Leipzig.

Leading 1-0 from the first leg in Germany, the Spaniards had to wait until the 65th minute for Vinicius Junior to put them ahead on the night.

However, Orban levelled within three minutes and then went close with a header as the LaLiga leaders eventually made it through 2-1 on aggregate.