Thomaz Bellucci gets five-month ban for doping
Thursday 24 May 2018 14:30, UK
Thomaz Bellucci will miss the Australian Open after picking up a five-month suspension for an anti-doping violation.
The International Tennis Federation announced the ban - backdated to September 1 - on Thursday, saying the 29-year-old Brazilian had tested positive for the banned diuretic hydrochlorothiazide.
The ITF added it had accepted Bellucci's account of how the substance got into his system and that he bore "no significant fault of negligence".
He is free to play again from February 1 and as such will miss the Australian Open, but, given his ranking - currently 112 - he would have had to qualify anyway.
Bellucci, a former world No 21 and winner of four singles titles, insisted he was innocent of any wrongdoing.
"I have shown that it wasn't my fault," he said in a statement.
"I never took any kind of supplement or any other substance that would favour me or break the rules of fair play in sport."
The ITF could have banned him for four years but opted for the minimum punishment due to "the reputation of Thomaz" and the medical and scientific evidence presented, said his lawyer Pedro Fida.
