Daniil Medvedev narrowly avoided ban as Wimbledon star speaks out on drug tests

Daniil Medvedev has opened up on the brutal reality of doping tests in tennis after his compatriot Jenson Brooksby was provisionally suspended for being accused of missing three tests. The World No. 3 revealed he was one shot away from being banned as well while explaining how easy it was to miss a test.

Brooksby, 22, recently announced he had accepted a provisional suspension after being charged with failing three doping tests under the International Tennis Integrity Agency whereabouts system. Players must provide their location for one hour per day every day of the year for possible random testing.

According to anti-doping rules, this means that a player can be penalized without providing a positive test if he has recorded three "whereabouts failures" in a 12-month period. In Brooksby's case, the world number 101 denies any wrongdoing and is awaiting an arbitration appeal to an independent tribunal, telling AP that accepting the suspension is not an admission of guilt.

Medvedev has now shared his own experience with the whereabouts program and revealed he has been on two strikes for a long time, leaving him to risk being suspended like Brooksby if he misses a third drug test during the course. of this period.

"Hard to answer. I think anti-doping in general in sport is a good thing. We need it because we never know who's cheating, who's not cheating," said the 27-year-old after his victory in the second round at Wimbledon.

He continued: "The side effect of that is that sometimes you see players in the locker room and then you have stories like a lot of players, I'm not even going to say the names. Then you see that they have, like, maybe I'm not sure what I'm saying, but five milligrams of a banned substance, where even anti-doping in some cases says it couldn't affect your performance.

"It could be maybe a protein shake, who knows, water you drink, for some reason it's there. Of course, it's a shame if you haven't done anything. I can imagine that happening. Hasn't done anything in his whole life, so you get a positive result. You know you're probably going to be out for a, two years. You're like, 'Wow, I don't have anything do.' At the same time, someone probably did something. Yeah, that's what it is. You have to be very careful."

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Medvedev has had his own issues with the Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS), a World Anti-Doping Agency platform that players use to log their whereabouts. "Regarding the Brooksby case, I haven't seen the specifics, but what I've heard from my coaches, he says they knocked on the wrong door and something like that," a- he said.

"I myself had two failed tests once. That was my first year on the ADAMS system. It's not easy. I don't know. Imagine you're not not married and you decide to sleep over at your girlfriend's house who's an hour away from you, and you decide at the last moment. You forget to change the time slot. One failed test. Three can go pretty fast."

The 2021 US Open champion is now regimented to make sure he doesn't risk getting any closer to suspension again. But he explained that even something as simple as a doorbell or intercom failure could cost a player a shot.

He added, "I've had two for a long time. I made sure I wasn't going to miss one more. It won't be possible for me to miss one more. Since then, I don't think you missed one.

“I imagine your intercom is not working. Yes, some stories could happen. Like I said, I think some cases are really bad luck. Then we probably have in other spo. ..