Wimbledon doubles champion Robert Farah as well as Nicolas Jarry fail drugs tests

ATP Tour
Robert Farah press conference

Men’s doubles world No 1 and reigning Wimbledon doubles champions Robert Farah as well as world No 78 Nicolas Jarry have both tested positive banned substances.

Two-time Grand Slam winner Farah, who also won the 2019 US Open alongside fellow Colombian Juan Sebastian Cabal, announced earlier this week that he would miss the Australian Open due to personal reasons.

However, he has been provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Federation after they informed him he tested positive for Boldenone in an out-of-competition test in October.

Farah, though, insists cross-contamination is to blame for the result.

“I will not be able to play at the Australian Open, an event for which I had been preparing since December,” he wrote on Twitter.

“A few hours ago the ITF informed me of the presence of Boldenona in a test that I did on October 17, 2019 in Cali.

“Two weeks before the test mentioned… I did an anti-doping test in Shanghai which had a negative result. And I was also tested at least 15 other times randomly in the international circuit throughout the year with the same negative result.

“As stated by the Colombian Olympic Committee in 2018, this substance is found frequently in Colombian meat and may affect athletes’ test results.”

He added: “I am calm and confident in the results of this process since I have always acted correctly and honestly in my life. I will work harder than ever to return to the courts in the shortest time possible.”

Jarry, a former world No 38, returned a positive sample for Stanozolol and Ligandrol during the Davis Cup in November.

The Chilean claimed he had taken multi-vitamins on the advice of a doctor who had “guaranteed” that they were free from banned substances.

 

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“The levels of these substances are so incredibly low that they are equivalent to trillionths of a gram, levels so low that neither substance could have provided me any performance enhancing benefit,” Jarry wrote.

“I would like to let you know that I have never deliberately or intentionally taken any banned substance in my career as a tennis player and in fact, I am completely opposed to doping.

“Therefore, I will dedicate these next days and weeks fully to determine where these substances came from so my legal team and I can clarify this situation completely.

“This has caught me and my loved ones by absolute surprise and what I would like to do beyond proving my innocence (no doubt about that) is to in the future use what is happening to me as an example for al the young athletes, so that cases like this never happen again.

“I say this because it strongly looks like a cross-contamination case for the use of multi-vitamins made in Brazil, which my doctor recommended I take since they were guaranteed to be free from banned substances.

“My legal team and I will be working very strongly to prove my innocence and for this I have offered my full cooperation to the International Tennis Federation (ITF).”

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