"I have never failed a test": Jenson Brooksby claims he was tested "hours" after receiving 18-month suspension

American tennis player Jenson Brooksby faces a suspension until January 2025 after failing three doping tests in a year.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced on Tuesday that Jenson Brooksby, the talented American tennis player, has been sanctioned with a suspension that will keep him off the courts until January 2025. The decision was made after an independent tribunal determined that Brooksby had missed three doping tests within a year.

The ITIA reported that Brooksby himself acknowledged that his "whereabouts failures" in two of the tests he didn't complete were valid. Additionally, the tribunal found his degree of fault in the third uncompleted test to be high:

“Whoever made that decision does not care about the players' mental health,” Brooksby wrote

“This is my 5th test since March 2023 including 1 test outside my 1 hour window,” he wrote. I have never failed a test,” he added.

Under anti-doping rules, athletes can be penalized even in the absence of a positive doping test if they accumulate three "whereabouts failures" within a 12-month period. This regulation is in place to ensure that athletes are always available for doping tests.

The tennis player, originally from California and currently based in Dallas, now has a three-week period during which he can appeal the suspension to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Brooksby has already expressed his intention to file an appeal to reverse the decision.

Brooksby, who reached a career-high ranking of 33 in tennis, currently holds the 301st position. This significant drop in his ranking is due to the fact that he did not compete for a considerable part of the previous season due to surgeries on his wrist tendons. In March, he underwent surgery on his left wrist, followed by another on his right wrist in May.

The last time Brooksby participated in a tournament was in the second round of the 2023 Australian Open in January, where he was defeated by the second seed, Casper Ruud.