Picture Credit: Twitter
Kamil Majchrzak has been handed a 13-month ban from professional tennis after he was tested positive in a doping test. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) which announced the ban, accepted that Majchrzak "had not knowingly or intentionally committed an offence”. It is to be noted that the Polish player was tested positive for substances in Sofia, Japan, and Seoul in September and October last year, and then by Polish officials in November.
He took to social media to share his part of story in a long message for his fans and supporters on Thursday, June 29. The player confirmed that the banned substance belonged to an ‘isotonic drink’ which he regularly consumed from September 2022, right till his doping test result came back positive. He claimed that the label on the drink did not mention any ingredient which was banned in sport. He added that many of his colleagues consumed this drink but were never tested positive.
According to him, the concentration levels of the substance were minute and were not capable of enhancing his performance on the court. For these chemicals to have had any impact, their concentration would have needed to be hundreds to thousands of times more than what was observed in his urine tests. Initially, a four-year ban was expected to be handed to Majchrzak, but the penalty was reduced to 13 months and he was punished for unintentional doping.
The 27-year-old promised to return to the professional tour in January 2024. He thanked some special people in his life, including his wife, coaches, psychologists and his lawyers. He said that it is still tough for him to ‘come to terms’ with this reality, but getting back to professional tennis first is his priority.
Majchrzak won the Challenger Tour event in Busan, South Korea in October and reached the semi-finals of an ATP 250 event in Pune, India. He has a career high ATP single ranking of World No. 75 achieved as on 28 February 2022 and a career high ATP double ranking of World No. 241 achieved as on 8 August 2016.
