Grand Slam record winner Novak Djokovic and his Serbian teammates refused a doping test on Thursday before the Davis Cup match against Great Britain – out of anger at what they saw as the unreasonable procedure.
Djokovic was angry about the Davis Cup regulations, which were obviously unfamiliar to him and allow unannounced tests even before the matches.
“This is the first time that this has happened to me,” complained Djokovic at the press conference after his individual victory against Cameron Norrie: He was asked to check “an hour and a half before the start” by a representative of the anti-doping agency WADA: “It doesn’t make sense if I’m also checked afterwards.” The team took blood and urine samples after the game.
Djokovic explained in Serbian that he had argued with the person in charge of control – he had argued that the players should have had a rest break after the match and that the test had therefore been scheduled before the game.
“This has never happened to me in 20 years,” reported Djokovic: “He sat in one of the corners and followed me for hours. This is outrageous. I have always defended doping controls, but not before matches. I have nothing to hide, but there have to be boundaries.”
The background to the scandal is the rules of the ITF association that apply in the final phase of the Davis Cup, which are different than those on the ATP tour and Grand Slam tournaments, where tests before the matches are taboo.
As the Spanish Marca reports, the ITF had already informed all team captains in a meeting on Monday that they should expect surprise tests before the games.
Tennis dominator Djokovic won his singles against Norrie in straight sets and led his team to the semi-finals. Italy is waiting there on Saturday for top player Jannik Sinner (DATA CENTER: The Davis Cup schedule).
2023-11-25 10:58:12
#Tennis #Doping #scandal #Novak #Djokovic
