Max Purcell, the 2024 US Open men’s doubles champion, has admitted to an anti-doping rule violation and has been provisionally suspended from tennis pending an investigation.
Purcell was suspended on December 12 after requesting an interim suspension on December 10. In confirming the suspension on December 23, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said Purcell, 26, had violated the rules of the game. It refers to a ‘prohibited method’ rather than a positive test for a prohibited substance.
“I voluntarily accepted the temporary suspension because I unknowingly received an IV infusion of vitamins exceeding the allowable limit of 100ml,” Purcell said on Instagram. Until last week, when I received a medical note from the hospital showing that the amount of IV I had received was more than 100ml, I was completely confident that all steps had been taken to ensure that WADA regulations and methods were followed.
“However, records showed that the IV exceeded the 100ml limit. Even though I told the hospital that because I am a professional athlete my IV should be less than 100ml.”
According to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), “Injections or injections of up to 100 ml are permitted within 12 hours, unless the substance being injected/injected is not on the prohibited list.”
“Prohibited methods” fall into three definitions in WADA regulations: Blood manipulation (popularly known as blood doping); Chemical and physical manipulation, which extends to any form of manipulation or manipulation of a blood or urine sample and also applies to intravenous infusion; and gene and cell doping. Purcell’s violations pertain to chemical and physical manipulation.
ITIA has not yet commented specifically on Purcell’s violations.
The suspension is interim, so it’s unclear how many tennis matches Purcell will miss, but the time will likely be credited toward a final sanction when the investigation into his case concludes. Despite being ranked world number 105, he was not included in the singles wildcard list for the Australian Open.
The doubles roster has not yet been revealed, but Purcell, who won the U.S. Open with compatriot Jordan Thompson last September and is ranked 12th in the world in doubles, was set to advance to a home major. Purcell also won the Wimbledon men’s singles title in 2022 with another Australian, Matt Ebden.
Purcell is the third major champion to be charged with an anti-doping violation in 2024. Defending Australian Open champion and world number one Jannik Sinner, who tested positive twice for the banned drug clostebol in March, was found not guilty by three independent tribunals convened by ITIA. Sinner, who also won the US Open title, is awaiting the outcome of WADA’s appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which could see him banned from competing for up to two years.
French Open champion Iga Swiatek has been banned for a month after testing positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) in August. Twenty-two days of the ban were served as provisional suspensions, which prevented her from participating in three tournaments. Swiatek was deemed not to have committed any material wrongdoing.
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