American player Jenson Brooksby has been suspended for 18 months by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) after a tribunal found that he committed three whereabouts failures in 12 months. Under anti-doping rules, athletes can be penalized without a positive test if they miss three out-of-competition tests within a year. Athletes in the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) must submit detailed whereabouts information that allows WADA’s drug testers to find them for unannounced out-of-competition testing.
A successful test can be the difference between winning a gold medal and losing one, so athletes must comply with the rules by providing accurate whereabouts information. But that’s only sometimes easy for athletes who travel a lot to compete in different countries and continents.
The ITIA said on Tuesday that an independent tribunal ruled that the 22-year-old, who achieved his highest career ranking of 33rd last year, failed to provide complete and accurate whereabouts information for three separate testing windows between March and May of this year. It added that the tribunal deemed his “degree of fault was high.”
Under WADA rules, failing to fulfill whereabouts requirements is an anti-doping violation. Rack up three in 12 months, and you get banned from competition for a minimum of two years. Brooksby’s ban will be backdated to July 5 and end on January 4, 2025. The ITIA says he is prohibited from playing in, coaching at, or attending any event authorized or sanctioned by the ITIA members, which includes the ATP and WTA, as well as other tournaments like the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and US Open.
It’s not unusual for top athletes to miss out-of-competition tests — even big names like Olympic cycling champion Bradley Wiggins have had the misfortune to do so at some point in their careers. But the fact that Brooksby, who was a member of Wiggins’ eponymous Team Sky from 2010 to 2015 and currently leads the prestigious Boels-Dolmans squad, also has a history of whereabouts lapses makes this case particularly noteworthy.
The ITIA is reviewing the evidence before deciding whether to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Brooksby has 21 days to decide whether he will do so.
Despite the high stakes, there needs to be more interest in seeing where cases become a flashpoint in track and field. That is mainly because the process for filing whereabouts violations is pretty straightforward, and the chances of successfully appealing are slim.
USADA has attempted to charge Kenyan distance runner Christian Coleman for whereabouts failures in the past, but his case was ultimately dropped on a technicality. He had a valid defense that one of the missed test slots should have been excluded from his 12-month window because it fell outside of a specific date range. But Coleman’s situation underscores a significant problem with the system: Unless there is a breakthrough in testing technology, it will always be more accessible for athletes to guarantee that they will be available for out-of-competition tests.