Five-times grand slam tennis champion Maria Sharapova hit out at some media accounts of her doping case that she termed “wrong” in an open letter to her fans on Facebook.

Sharapova, who tested positive for the banned drug meldonium at the Australian Open, is facing a suspension of up to four years and has already lost numerous sponsorships in the aftermath.

The former world number one thanked her fans for their “tremendous outpouring of support” before launching into a critique of what she believed were some inaccurate reports.

“A report said that I had been warned five times about the upcoming ban on the medicine I was taking. That is not true and it never happened,” Sharapova wrote.

The 28-year-old Russian said she was making no excuses for not knowing about the ban that went into effect on January 1, but said that after the first announcement, other notices were “buried in newsletters, websites, or handouts.”