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Rusedski cleared of doping offence

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Rob Burgess 11 March 2004

Greg Rusedski has been cleared by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) of committing a doping offence.

The British No.2, who had tested positive for the banned substance nandrolone during an ATP tournament in Indianapolis last July, described the unanimous verdict of the three-man independent tribunal as "clear and unequivocal".

In a statement released on Wednesday, Rusedski said: "Late yesterday I was informed by the tribunal that I had been found not guilty of a doping offence. The verdict was clear and unequivocal. This is an enormous relief to me and I would like to take this opportunity to thank my wife Lucy, my family, my legal team Mark Gay and David Pannick QC, Donnay and all my friends for standing by me and believing in my innocence. Their constant love, support and loyalty gave me the strength to get through this ordeal.

"I have also been tremendously encouraged by the overwhelmingly favourable reaction of the general public. To be allowed to carry on playing competitive tennis and to clear my name has been my priority throughout and now I am looking forward to resuming my career."

Rusedski had maintained throughout that the source of nandrolone was supplements handed out to players on the tour by ATP trainers. Seven other male players were also cleared by the ATP last year of committing doping offences having tested positive for the banned substance.

Since then, the ATP has stopped the practice of distributing nutritional supplements, though recent testing from several 2004 tournaments indicates that the occurrence of low levels of nandrolone and its precursors in anti-doping test samples has continued.

John Scott, Acting Director of Drug-Free Sport at UK Sport, said: "It is clear that a situation has developed within tennis which has led to an unusual increase in the levels of nandrolone among a number of players.

"It is important for the sake of everyone in the sport that the exact cause of this is determined to ensure the problem is eradicated. We are pleased that the ATP and the World Anti-Doping Agency is investigating the issue and look forward to seeing their conclusions."

The ATP announced on Wednesday an expansion of its efforts to identify and eliminate the source of these findings.

"The Tribunal ruling underscores the problem of nandrolone contamination that we identified last year and still face today," said Mark Miles, ATP Chief Executive Officer.

"To date, the investigation has included interviews with more than 100 individuals, including players, officials and experts, along with thorough examination and analysis of all available data. Given that low-level trace occurrences appear to be continuing, we felt it important to re-double our efforts to identify the cause of these test results."

Two new experts have agreed to join the ATP investigation: Dr. Peter Hemmersbach, who heads the doping analysis section at the Hormone Lab of the Aker University Hospital in Norway, and the Hon. Robert J. Ellicott, former Australian Solicitor General and Attorney General.

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