July 26, 2013 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
World number 53 Viktor Troicki of Serbia has been suspended for 18 months by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for refusing to submit to blood testing before this past April’s Monte Carlo Masters. The ITF said Troicki broke an anti-doping rule by providing a urine sample, but not a blood sample. His ban from the sport ends Jan. 24, 2015. In addition to the suspension, the ITF said Troicki’s results at the Monte Carlo Masters would be erased (a 6-1, 6-2 defeat to Jarkko Nieminen) and he would forfeit both ATP ranking points and prize money from the tournament.
"I am innocent," said Troicki. "I have never ever taken any prohibited substance or ever thought of doing so. I did not lie and this really hurts."
Troicki told an independent tribunal he had been assured by the doping control officer at the event that it would be acceptable to not provide blood because he had not been well that day, the ITF said. The tribunal, however, ruled that the officer had told Troicki "she could not advise him as to whether his reason for not providing a blood sample was valid, and that no such assurances were given by her."
The tribunal said Troicki’s "actions constituted a failure and a refusal to provide a blood sample, and that his explanation for not doing so did not constitute compelling justification."
