Casper Ruud has defended Jenson Brooksby after his 18-month suspension, believing that to be too harsh for the 'offense' he committed.
Ruud has been quite an outspoken tennis player, which is a bit surprising to some. Not many expected him to be as vocal as he is, but he's been quite outspoken on many things and doesn't mind taking a position on matters that some might find controversial.
We've seen a few doping bans this year, and one of them is for rising tennis star Jenson Brooksby, who missed a lot of time this year due to injuries. He'll miss even more because he was suspended from tennis for 18 months after missing too many doping tests.
The ruling created quite a bit of controversy on the ATP Tour as the players were fed up with the way doping checks were being handled for a while. Holger Rune demonstrated how stressful it can be for players, as did Ruud recently.
The Norwegian spoke about it in the latest episode of his Eurosport podcast admitting. He also defended Brooksby, calling the suspension far too long.
I think the punishment is too long. 18 months is you lose almost in a way like three years of your career because 18 months is a year and a half and then it'll take you about a year maybe more to kind of obviously he's good enough to come back to the Top 100. He's a good enough player but you're not just gonna win every tournament you come back.
There is some truth to that, as the punishment seems rather excessive, considering that he never took a banned substance. Missing tests can happen, especially with the way the agents handle the whole situation.
We'll see if something changes but for now, those are the rules and they are here to stay.
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