EXCLUSIVE: Maria Sharapova would never cheat, says coach who turned 11-year-old into Grand Slam winner - she is the victim of jealousy and a witch-hunt

Maria Sharapova's former tennis mentor has stepped in to defend the under fire superstar, branding the World Anti-Doping Agency probe against her a 'witch-hunt'.

Coach Robert Lansdorp – who is credited with turning the child prodigy in to a world-class tennis champion - said he was 'surprised' when news broke that she had tested positive for banned substance Mildronate.

And he insists his former protégé would never wittingly 'cheat' and believes she is simply a victim of poor communication.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Online from his California home, Lansdorp said: 'I think it's a witch-hunt to tell you the truth... by [the] WADA [World Anti-Doping Agency] - there is something funny going on.

Mentor: Robert Lansdorp first met Maria Sharapova when she was 11, and coached her through her teenage years. He was on her team when, aged 17, she won Wimbledon, her first Grand Slam title

Close: Robert Lansdorp was a key influence over Maria Sharapova as he coached her from the age of 11. He says she would never wittingly cheat and believes she is a victim of a witch-hunt 

Memento: Sharapova and Lansdorp have remained close over the years and he had dinner with her father two months ago, without any mention of the imminent drugs scandal

Faith: 'There's no way she would cheat. No way in hell would she have taken drugs knowing it was illegal, especially Maria with an image she has - her image is squeaky clean - so she wouldn't take a chance.'

'I don't know the details, but she didn't do it on purpose. It's impossible.

'There's no way she would cheat. No way in hell would she have taken drugs knowing it was illegal, especially Maria with an image she has - her image is squeaky clean - so she wouldn't take a chance.'

Sharapova, 28, was last week forced to admit she had tested positive for a banned substance at January's Australian Open.

The five-times Grand Slam champion made a personal statement at a Los Angeles hotel confessing she had been caught out by tennis's anti-doping operation.

The highest-earning athlete in any female sport said that she had been found to have taken Meldonium, which was prohibited from January 1 this year. 

The International Tennis Federation has said the star will be provisionally suspended from the sport while an investigation is carried out and Sharapova could face a four-year ban.

At the LA press conference, which many assumed would be to announce her retirement after a spate of injuries, Sharapova said she had been legally taking the drug for ten years.

She conceded that she had received a notification from the International Tennis Federation on December 22 that it was being outlawed.

But she admitted that she did not follow an information link that was provided, adding: 'I take responsibility for my professionalism in my job and I made a big mistake.'

For Lansdorp, 77, who lives in Lakewood, California, seeing his former student come clean in front of the world's media was a 'sad' moment.

He said: 'I thought it was so sad - she sounded so depressed to me – that's not Maria. Maria was always this happy person, you know and to see her so depressed - oh I thought it was sad.'

The coach says he can't understand why the anti-doping body didn't call Sharapova's team directly to inform them of the change in the rules.

He said: 'I mean if it's that important then why don't you call Max [Eisenbud] her agent and say, "hey Max we're going to change this", why send an email to a girl who gets thousands and thousands of emails?

'Something that important, why wouldn't you make a phone call or double check the email and say, "did you get the email?". This wasn't just anyone, it was Maria.

'I'd like to know the detail on what WADA decided to do - how did they contact her - because somebody screwed up.

Memories: When she was 14, Sharapova made her own tribute to her coach, saying that he had made her a 'champion', which proved to be prophetic

The storyboard said 'to Robert from Maria - presented by Maria Sharapova'. Lansdorp tells Daily Mail Online how he was closer to Sharapova than other young tennis players he coached

How Maria came to win: Her montage for her coach gives some clue about what initially made her a success

'I don't think Maria actually looked at it and went "oh God, they are making it illegal". No way, she didn't know.

'She's very, very bright and no bright person like Maria would take that stuff knowing you are going to the Australian Open and are going to be tested. I mean that would be nuts.'

Lansdorp – who coached Sharapova from age 10 to 18 and was on her team when she won Wimbledon age 17 - says he wasn't ever aware that Sharapova was taking the performance enhancing drug.

He said he even had dinner with Sharapova's father Yuri just two months ago but the subject of drugs wasn't discussed.

'I never knew she had any problems. I never knew she had heart problems or a tendency for diabetes,' he said.

'But you know all that stuff will come out I think.'

He added that Sharapova's Russian heritage – and tendency for privacy - doesn't help.

'Russians are born KGB people I think, very private people,' he joked.

'I think they have the mentality that they don't share anything. They are very secretive.'

Lansdorp started coaching Sharapova when she was 11.

Her parents, who lived in Florida, wanted their tall daughter to be coached by the best and Lansdorp had already built a solid reputation on the back of the success he'd had coaching US tennis sensations Lindsay Davenport and Tracy Austin.

He said: 'I got a call from IMG (Florida tennis academy) when Maria first turned 11. And they said we have a kid here and the father wants to see if you can take a look at her, so I said sure bring her out.

'She was like a little girl, skinny, real quick. She had maybe a two hour lesson or something like this.'

Lansdorp - who also coached 14-time Grand Slam winner Pete Sampras, received the USTA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 and was honored as a Team USA Coaching Legend in 2013 - said at that point he had worked with a lot of talented young players so wasn't easily impressed.

Gratitude: Lansdorp keeps a picture of the two together which shows Maria's personal letter of thanks for his coaching. She became part of his family as she grew up

Other memories: Lansdorp also coached Pete Sampras, who went on to win 14 Grand Slams

'I remember she hit the ball really well but every forehand and down the line - she couldn't hit cross guard. Her timing was off a little bit off, she hit the ball a little late.

'Yuri said to me, "what do you think about my daughter?" and instead of saying, "oh my God man, your daughter is unbelievable", I said "she's really good but her forehand sucks".'

Sharpova's father Yuri wasn't disheartened though and he moved Maria to LA. By the age of 14 she was working with Lansdorp every day in grueling four hour training sessions which she would fit around her schooling.

At the time Lansdorp was coaching Davenport who had just won the US Open. 

He recalls: 'Maria's father said he saw Davenport hitting the ball and he said, "that's how my daughter has to hit the ball".

'Maria was playing a lot of tennis at that age and she was always a happy girl.

'She was very coachable, I never had any problems with her, she seemed happy. A hard worker and very competitive.'

The longer Lansdorp worked with Sharapova the more he realized how 'special' she was.

'What I saw was a girl that had no fear,' he explains.

'You see she would just bang that ball like she always did. She would not choke - she didn't know what choking was, which was great.

Admission: Sharapova used a press conference in Los Angeles to announce that she had failed a drugs test, before the results were officially revealed. 

Not FDA approved: Meldonium is a heart therapy which is made in Latvia

'When I saw that and she was fighting and she would still crank that ball, and so I knew there was something definitely really special about her.'

The veteran coach recalls having a very close relationship with the young Russian to the point she was part of his family.

One Christmas, when Sharapova was in LA with her mother and father, her parents had to go back to Florida but left their daughter behind.

'She was living in an apartment, and she had no Christmas,' recalls Lansdorp.

'So my then wife, and I, we both got a Christmas tree and bought ornaments and presents, and we both went over to the apartment and put up the Christmas tree and had presents.

'We had a good relationship - she was such a sweet girl that everything was very nice. I had a closer relationship with her than I've had with any other player.'

For this reason Lansdorp - a Dutch-born successful amateur who turned to coaching in 1967 - is still fiercely protective of his former student and rounds on anyone who dares criticize her over the latest drugs scandal.

Sharapova's sponsor Nike has dropped the star over the positive drugs test and several big names in tennis have expressed their anger with very few offering words of support.

Former World No.1 Chris Evert claimed that no one is stepping up to support Sharapova because she has no friends in the game.

'It's hard to tell [the reaction from players] because Maria Sharapova has always isolated herself from the rest of the tennis world, from the players. She doesn't have a lot of close friendships on the tour,' she told ESPN.

Men's star Rafael Nadal said it was 'terrible for the world of sport in general and for our sport especially.'

British star Andy Murray criticized his own racket company, Head, for promising to extend its sponsorship of Sharapova, despite her positive test in Australia.

Lansdorp, however, slammed Nike for being 'nasty'. 'She's Miss Nike. I mean she made them so much money, and to just dump on her that quick,' he said.

He also hit out at Murray for his negative comments, joking: 'If one guy should take steroids its Murray, I mean the guy looks like a fifteen-year-old boy.'

And on the catty comments from Chris Evert, he said: 'Oh yeah Miss Ice Maiden? I think that's plain nasty... it's just nasty.

'It's so two faced, everyone is jumping on the bandwagon – everyone's on the bandwagon – 'okay Maria's no good now, we don't need her anymore so lets have a dig'.'

Lansdorp believes the personal attacks are mainly out of jealousy.

'I think the women who have criticized Sharapova aren’t unhappy [about] what has happened. They are very competitive, they fight and they fight and fight. They are jealous of Maria’s success and want to compete,' he said.

'Even when I was traveling with Maria, I could feel a little bit of animosity, the other girls would not really talk to me.

'They wouldn’t say hi, how are you Robert, the only one that did was (Kim) Clijsters, she had a lot of class.

'I just feel like they all should have held back - let’s see what happens. I always say that jealousy is the root of all evil. 

'It's not money, its jealousy. Maria makes a lot of money and she's considered beautiful – there's absolutely nothing wrong with her.'