Tennis players involved in doping or match-fixing investigations are now eligible for free legal help, confidential counseling or money to test products they’ve taken that might have led to a positive drug test, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced Wednesday.
The trial program begins immediately and will be reviewed after next year.
A player can receive up to $5,000 for a lab accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to check a medicine or a supplement for contamination or the same amount for help identifying possible sources of contaminated meat — a frequent explanation for failed doping tests in sports.
Sport Resolutions, an independent dispute resolution service that runs tribunals for anti-doping cases in tennis, is extending its free legal support in such cases to when a player first tests positive for a banned substance. Until now, this service was available only after a player was charged.
And Sporting Chance, an organization that works with athletes on their mental health, will provide six sessions of well-being support for people being investigated for anti-corruption or anti-doping violations.
“We recognize the process can come at both a financial and emotional cost,” ITIA CEO Karen Moorhouse said.
“No player picks up a tennis racket as a child with any motivation other than playing the game,” she said. “Individuals find themselves in these situations for a lot of reasons, and so no matter what those reasons are, and where the case ends up, they also deserve someone to talk to.”
The ITIA was involved in two particularly high-profile doping cases in tennis that began last year and ultimately resulted short bans for players who have been ranked No. 1 and won multiple Grand Slam titles, Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek.
Sinner reached a deal with WADA to accept a three-month suspension that ended this April after that group appealed an exoneration from the ITIA based on what it determined was an accidental contamination by an anabolic steroid.
Swiatek agreed to a one-month ban that was partly served during last offseason after she tested positive because of what she said was a contaminated non-prescription medication.
Some tennis players, notably 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic, have been critical of the way cases were handled, saying there was a sense of favoritism toward the sport’s biggest stars.
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
