Jenson Brooksby cries ‘innocence’ claiming he’s never failed a test as he gets 18-month suspension

The American has been suspended till January 4, 2025

Jenson Brooksby cries ‘innocence’ claiming he’s never failed a test as he gets 18-month suspension

Jenson Brooksby (Image via News18)

Promising American professional tennis player Jenson Brooksby was handed a huge blow when he was handed an 18-month suspension by the International Tennis Integrity Association (ITIA) after three whereabouts failures in a twelve-month period, on Tuesday, 24 October. This follows the provisional suspension handed to him by the ITIA on July 5, 2023.

For context, according to anti-doping regulations, players can face suspension if they have three “whereabouts failures” in a year. These failures occur when players fail to notify the authorities of their whereabouts, impeding the ability to conduct random drug tests. The Sanction period begins on the day of his provisional suspension (July 5, 2023) and lasts 18 months till January 4, 2025.

Sharing a statement in his defense on Instagram, Brooksby wrote:

FS Video
I got tested by IDTM Tuesday night, just hours after the ITIA announced my suspension. Whoever made that decision does not care about the payers' mental health. This is my 5th test since March 2023, including 1 test outside my 1 hour window. I have never failed a test.

Earlier, the 23-year-old American announced that he’d challenge the verdict and move the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to appeal against the decision. An independent tribunal set by the ITIA found that Brooksby’s degree of fault was very high in the missed test and that he was negligent while the Doping Control Officer (DCO) tried their best to locate their player. 

The American said that he was disappointed to learn about the verdict from the ITIA while claiming that he has never taken a banned substance. While admitting the two missed tests as his fault, Brooksby asked for the third missed test on June 4, 2022, to be set aside. 

Brooksby claimed that he was in the hotel room for the entire hour of the testing window. However, some miscommunication from the hotel staff and the DCO not calling him on his hotel room phone led to him missing the test. 

Jenson Brooksby receives support from Reilly Opelka

Reilly Opelka spoke out in support for his American counterpart Jenson Brooksby after ITIA handed him an 18-month suspension. Opelka recently took a strong stand against the use of Adderall by many tennis players, as he considers it to be a PED (performance-enhancing drug).

Putting out a statement in support of Brooksby on Instagram, the 26-year-old was stunned that the ITIA, which lets players pass for taking Adderall, put a sanction against Brooksby for an honest mistake.

Reilly Opelka and Jenson Brooksby
Reilly Opelka and Jenson Brooksby (Sources: The Sport Review, Sky Sports)

Earlier, World No.6 Holger Rune came out in support of Brooksby as he took a dig at the ITIA for their attitude while approaching players for the doping tests. The Norwegian talked about how it was stressful to update the ITIA about their whereabouts as the tennis players had to travel a lot.

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