Murray’s National Honor Detoured by Random ITF Drug Test
Andy Murray was on his way to receiving his nation’s highest honor, the Officer of Order of British Empire (OBE) on Thursday, but had a slight setback en route to Buckingham Palace. Tennis officials decided today was the day to randomly drug test Murray. In July, Murray became the first British male in 77 years to win the singles title at Wimbledon.
"They turned up at my door at 8.20 a.m. and I had a taxi booked for half past eight," said Murray of the surprise test. "I was a bit worried I was going to be late but the taxi did a great job in getting us here. It’s part of the job, but when you have a day like today you are looking forward to, it’s the last thing you need."
When the slight delay was over, Murray arrived at Buckingham Palace with girlfriend Kim Sears and his parents Willie and Judy. He spoke for one minute with The Duke of Cambridge, longer than any of the other OBE recipients.
According to the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) "Whereabouts Program," players are required to notify the ITF of their whereabouts during a one-hour window of each day of the year. During that one-hour window, the player must be available for testing at a specific location, including the player’s hotel, a restaurant, a photo shoot, etc. The Whereabouts Program applies to all players, men and women, who finished inside the top 50 during the previous year, as well as the top 10 doubles players and the top five wheelchair and quad players.
If a player notifies the ITF of his or her whereabouts and is unavailable when a tester arrives, the player is subject to a strike, at the discretion of the ITF. Any combination of failures to report whereabouts or missed tests adding up to three is considered a doping offense and receives a minimum one-year ban, and a maximum of two years.
