Belinda Bencic revealed an unpleasant experience she went through following her second-round win at the Canadian Open on Wednesday afternoon.
Bencic came through an energy-sapping match against American world number 47 Alycia Parks 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 which lasted 20 minutes shy of three hours. However, she was scheduled for an anti-doping test after the match, unbeknownst to her, and had to spend one and half hours without eating or visiting the toilet.
Doping tests carried out during tennis tournaments are usually unofficial and done at random, so players don't have time to prepare and are only informed when exiting the court after a match. Such was Bencic's case when leaving Court 9 on Wednesday and had to be escorted to a private area.
It was an uncomfortable situation for the Swiss Olympic gold medalist who was a spent force by the time she left the court and could not work out how she was supposed to be tested after winning a match. Bencic also added that she had to beg to have an ice bath, something she said is not laid in the rulebook.
"Well, I just spent one and a half hours in anti-doping not being able to pee after a three-hour match, of course. So I don't know what they expect, and I don't know why I have anti-doping when I won."
"So I just did that. I didn't even eat yet. I'm here now. I had a quick ice bath. I had to beg them to have an ice bath and to have a shower actually. So it's new rules. So, yeah, that's how I recover, I guess. Not ideal."
Bencic was visibly frustrated by the time she finished the ordeal and faced the journalists in the press room. In-competition testing is usually done at the site of a tournament and it is not uncommon for it to be conducted at Masters or low-key tournaments where only a urine test would suffice due to logistical challenges.
The ITF reserves the right to test for blood, urine, or both samples at any time before or after matches. In-competition tests are done under maximum surveillance by the doping officials immediately after a match, hence why Bencic would not be allowed leave the dedicated testing area without permission.
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