“Slovak Tennis Player Andrej Martin Receives 14-Month Ban for Violating Anti-Doping Rules”

Slovak tennis player Andrej Martin was banned for 14 months for violating anti-doping rules.

The thirty-three-year-old player tested positive for SARM S-22 at the Kooperativa Bratislava Open challenger tournament last year and was temporarily suspended.

Although the investigation did not prove intentional doping on his part, the Tennis Integrity Unit (ITIA) announced on Thursday that he had been suspended until June 5, 2024.

Martin’s sentence would have expired earlier, but during the temporary suspension, according to his own words, he participated in a triathlon competition and several floorball tournaments.

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He thus violated the rule according to which a suspended athlete cannot compete in an official event under the supervision of WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency).

Therefore, he was given the ban on activity only from the date of the verdict of the independent tribunal, which made a final decision in this case on April 5, 2023. The punishment for the Slovak representative will not expire until June of next year.

On June 7, 2022, at the challenger tournament in Bratislava, Martin underwent an examination aimed at the presence of illegal substances in the athlete’s body. The results of the examination of the samples confirmed the presence of a small amount of the substance SARM S-22 (selective androgen receptor modulator), which is on the list of prohibited substances by WADA.

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“The news about the positive test result at the Bratislava tournament shocked me. I strongly reject the conscious ingestion of an illegal substance,” defended Martin last year after a positive test.

The investigation proved that Martin did not consume the prohibited substance knowingly. It got into his body by accident, when he drank from the bottle of one of his teammates during the floorball tournament (in the same month as the challenger in Bratislava).

He confirmed to the independent tribunal that he added drops of ostarine (another name for SARM S-22) to his water bottle. The tribunal recognized the Slovak tennis player’s explanation as plausible and confirmed the unintentional use of the substance, but according to the official opinion, “the burden of responsibility for the ingestion of any substance is always on the side of the athlete.”

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Although he was initially threatened with a two- to four-year suspension, they considered a competent sentence of 14 months to be adequate in his specific case. All his results from the date of the positive test will be annulled.

Martin was the highest in the world ranking at 93rd place in February 2020, he also represented Slovakia in the Davis Cup.