The sport of tennis is threatened with the next doping trouble: Australian Max Purcell, who celebrated his second Grand Slam victory in men’s doubles at the US Open in 2024, has voluntarily given himself a temporary ban as part of the tennis anti-doping system program (TADP). The responsible International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced this on Monday.
A statement from the ITIA said Max Purcell had “admitted to using a prohibited method and requested an interim ban on December 10, 2024.” This ban came into force on December 12th. If there are actually sanctions, the time will be counted towards a possible ban.
The 26-year-old is not allowed to take part in, appear at or act as a coach in any tournaments on the professional tour during the provisional ban.
The ITIA will not make any further comments until the matter has been finally clarified.
Recently, doping cases involving the world number one Jannik Sinner from Italy and the Polish top player Iga Swiatek shocked the sport of tennis
Purcell reached five Grand Slam finals
The banned substance trimetazidine was detected at Swiatek in August. However, according to the judges’ assessment, Swiatek’s case was a less serious case. The 23-year-old was therefore only banned for a month.
Sinner tested positive for the banned steroid Clostebol in March. However, the Italian was acquitted because he was able to credibly assert that the contamination occurred unknowingly.
There was no ban, Sinner only lost prize money and world ranking points. The supposedly lax treatment of the two top players certainly caused resistance.
It remains to be seen how the Purcell case will turn out, but once again it was not an unknown person: The Australian won Wimbledon in 2022 in the men’s doubles before the US Open 2024. He also lost three Grand Slam finals. In the individual, he reached his best position in 2023 with 40th place.