Nike has suspended its relationship with Maria Sharapova after the five-time Grand Slam tennis champion admitted failing a drug test.
The company said it was "saddened and surprised" at her admission that she tested positive for a banned substance at the Australia Open in January.
"We have decided to suspend our relationship with Maria while the investigation continues," it said.
"We will continue to monitor the situation."
Ms Sharapova's relationship with Nike stretches back to when she was 11 years-old.
In 2010, the 28-year old Russian tennis player signed a new eight-year contract with the US sportswear giant worth $70m as well as a cut on sales of her own branded clothes.
Ms Sharapova is the world's highest paid female athlete after earning nearly $30m in 2015 from winnings and endorsements, according to Forbes. These include contracts with Evian, Tag Heuer, Porsche.
In 2014, Porsche named her as its first female ambassador.
Ms Sharapova, who lives in Florida, is also the face of Avon perfume, Luck.
Paul Swangaurd, from the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon, said that Nike's decision reflects a "new era" for the way sponsors deal with these types of issues.
Nike is taking a "very proactive approach", he said, and it reflects a "culmination of them being burned by a lot of athletes over the years, and growing impatient with putting so much investment behind athletes that potentially comes back to bite them in the court of public opinion".
Last month, Nike dropped Manny Pacquiao after the boxer said homosexuals were "worse than animals".
The company also severed ties with cyclist and drugs cheat Lance Armstrong as well as sprinter Oscar Pistorius.
Ms Sharapova tested positive for meldonium, a substance she claims she has been taking since 2006 for health issues.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) said she would be provisionally suspended from 12 March.
Ms Sharapova said: "I did fail the test and take full responsibility for it."
She claimed she had taken meldonium "for the past 10 years" after being given it by "my family doctor" but had known the drug as mildronate.
"A few days ago, after I received a letter from the ITF, I found out it also has another name of meldonium, which I did not know," she said.
Source: [BBC]
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