Maria Sharapova thanks fans for their support and vows to return to tennis

Rafa Nadal has said he believed Maria Sharapova has been treated "fairly" after she admitted failing a drug test.

The men's world number five said: "Everybody can have mistakes. I want to believe for sure that it is a mistake for Maria, she didn't want to do it.

"But it is obvious that it is negligence. The rules are like this. It is fair and now she must pay for it."

World number one Novak Djokovic has given his support to Maria Sharapova and said he hopes she "gets out of this stronger".

Women's tennis' most bankable star made the stunning announcement on Monday that she had failed a drug test for meldonium at the Australian Open.

Djokovic and Sharapova share a racquet sponsor and Djokovic has famously done impressions of the Russian on court.

He told TMZ.com: "I obviously wish her all the best. I've known her for a long time. I feel for her with all that's happening and I just hope she gets out of this stronger."

Maria Sharapova has "no excuse" for not realising that the medication she was taking had a banned ingredient in it, Dick Pound has said.

Speaking to ITV News, the former head of the World Anti Doping Agency said; "There's no excuse for somebody with her experience for testing positive for something she knew about and had been warned about.

She was either recklessly indifferent to what messages she was getting from Wada and the ATP or she did it deliberately and thought 'maybe I'll get away with it'".

The Russian government has said that Maria Sharapova's failed drugs test should not be "projected onto" the whole of Russian sport.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also told journalists that Russia was against attempts to politicise sporting matters.

Meldonium, the newly banned substance former world tennis number one Maria Sharapova has admitted to taking for 10 years, is reportedly only meant to be used for 'four to six weeks' at a time.

According to a statement emailed to the Associated Press the manufacturers of the drug said it is usually only administered for a short time but prescriptions can be repeated two or three times a year under medical advisement.

It is unclear whether Sharapova took the drug consistently for long periods over the last decade or whether the use of the substance was intermittent.

• Meldonium: the banned substance Sharapova admits using

Evian has announced that is 'closely' following developments in the investigation into tennis star Maria Sharapova after she announced yesterday that she had failed a drugs test.

It comes as Sharapova lost her sponsorship deals with Nike, Tag Heuer and Porsche following the revelations.

The parent company of the water brand, Danone, said it was "surprised" after the star admitted taking what is now a banned medication but did not comment directly on the status of her current sponsorship deal.

Caroline Wozniacki has said that athletes should make sure they "double, triple and quadruple check" their medications following revelations tennis star Maria Sharapova has failed a drugs test.

Speaking at a press conference in New York the Danish tennis star said athletes should be careful to check their medications for banned substances "because sometimes even things like cough drops and nasal sprays can be on the list".