Andy Murray: Maria Sharapova should accept her suspension

World number two Andy Murray has said Maria Sharapova should accept her suspension after testing positive for meldonium.

He also criticised his own racket manufacturer Head after the company said it would continue to support Sharapova in the wake of her admission that she had taken the banned substance.

"It's not up to me to decide the punishment, but if you're taking performance enhancing drugs and you fail a drugs test, you have to get suspended," Murray told reporters at the Indian Wells tournament in Palm Springs on Thursday.

"If you're taking a prescription drug and you're not using it for what that drug was meant for, then you don't need it, so you're just using it for the performance enhancing benefits that drug is giving you. And I don't think that that's right."

It comes after Sharapova admitted at a press conference she had tested positive for the drug meldonium and that she had been taking the drug for 10 years due to "health issues."

Murray said: "I read that 55 athletes have failed tests for that substance since January 1.

"You just don't expect high-level athletes at the top of many different sports to have heart conditions."

He said Head's announcement that it had extended its contract with the five-times grand slam champion was "a strange stance" given the events of the last few days.

"I don't really know what else to say on that, but that's not something I believe," he added.

"I think at this stage it's important really to get hold of the facts and let things play out, like more information coming out before making a decision to extend the contract like that, in my view. I personally wouldn't have responded like that."