(Reuters) – Slovakian tennis player Andrej Martin has been suspended for 14 months for failing a doping test, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said on Thursday.
The 33-year-old Martin, who reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of 93 in 2020, tested positive for an anabolic agent at the Bratislava Open in June.
Martin’s ban was reduced from the stipulated period of four years after he satisfied an independent tribunal that the offence was not intentional.
“The player asserted that he had played in a floorball tournament… and that the presence of the substance was caused by mistakenly drinking from a team mate’s water bottle, identical in appearance to his own,” ITIA said in a statement.
“Martin’s floorball team mate admitted that he added ostarine drops to his water bottle. The Independent Tribunal considered Martin’s statement to be plausible.”
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
