The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has cleared the air regarding Novak Djokovic's doping test at the 2023 Davis Cup Finals.
The ITIA, in a statement, clarified that Djokovic, 36, did not refuse to undergo testing during the tournament contrary to some alleged controversial claims on the internet that he did. Instead, Djokovic was rather unimpressed with the timetable of his scheduled test.
Prior to his match against Cameron Norrie in the Davis Cup quarterfinals, Djokovic was paid a visit by a Doping Control Officer (DCO) in Malaga. It's not uncommon for tennis players to undergo random doping tests in the middle of tennis tournaments.
But Djokovic's situation was peculiar, at least by his own admission. The DCO needed blood and urine samples of the Serbian an hour and a half before he took to the court.
This left him confused and upset, and he expressed his disapproval at what he called an "illogical decision," something that had never happened in his 20-year career.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion aired his complaints on Serbian media in which he added that he felt "distracted" as he was fulfilling his pre-match routines at that point.
Djokovic eventually provided the requested samples after beating Norrie and was highly critical of the doping agent who followed him for hours.
The ITIA has since defended the Serbian star, as reported by L'Equipe while confirming that he did not refuse to undergo testing. Furthermore, the report explains that players in team competitions can provide a sample either before or after the match, hence Djokovic was not guilty of any wrongdoing.
"The first thing to say is that Djokovic did not refuse the test. The rules state that when a player is notified, they must provide a sample as soon as they can. In team competitions such as the Davis Cup, players may be informed before a match, whereas in other competitions testing usually takes place after the match. The procedure has not been changed, either for this event or for the player."
"In Davis Cup, teams are notified before the start of the match. This allows players to choose if they prefer to do it before their match, otherwise, it will be after, a member of the organization told us. They have a choice. Some players prefer to do it before, it frees them up after the meeting, which is also not bad, they avoid staying on site too long after the end of a meeting."
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