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Novak Djokovic
‘should be suspended’ for ‘refusing’ a pre-matchdoping
test, according to French
cycling team manager Marc Madiot.
The tennis world No 1 was angry
at having his preparatory regime interrupted by doping control 90 minutes
before his Davis Cup match with Britain’sCameron Norrie
last week
World Anti Doping Agency officials paid Djokovic an unexpected visit in the
lead-up to the match in Malaga to inform him he’d be tested.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency [ITIA] confirmed that Djokovic
didn’t give his sample until after the match but hadn’t broken any rules as
players are given a choice to be tested either before or after.
‘I didn’t believe that they could make such a decision. In 20 and more years
of my career, it never happened to me that an hour-and-a-half before the match,
I needed to go for doping control,’ Djokovic told Serbian media.
‘I have my own routine. I don’t need that distraction, to have my urine and
blood taken, to think about whether I can give urine at that moment.
‘I didn’t see any reason or logic, but I hope they change such decisions. It’s
a shame what they did.
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‘They told me that one of the important reasons for that decision was that it
[the match] would end late, so that they would give us more time to rest.
‘I support testing myself or anyone – a hundred times, no problem, but not
before the match.’
The testing didn’t ultimately affect Djokovic’s performance as he beat Norrie
6-4, 6-4 but his remarks have attracted criticism from Madiot, who leads the
Groupama-FDJ cycling team.
Madiot, who didn’t seem to know about the choice of pre or post-match testing,
toldRMC Sport
: ‘We have the right to test before and after a competition. He refused the
test before the competition
