Mateo Nicolas Martinez banned for 20 months after using betamethasone
Cristobal Saavedra-Corvalan, Emmanuel Ikakah, Adimabua Iyorovbe, Mauricio Alvarez-Guzman, David Norfeldt, Benjamin D'Hoe and Mohamed Safwat are among the players that have been sanctioned by the Tennis Integrity Unit so far in 2019. These lower-ranked players have performed various types of violations and the newest player on that list is the 25-year-old Argentine Mateo Nicolas Martinez who has been banned for 20 months after committing an Anti-Doping Rule Violation! Back in March, Martinez provided a urine sample during M15 Pinamar ITF event at home in Argentina ad the analysis at the accredited laboratory in Montreal showed it contained betamethasone, a substance classified in the 2019 WADA Prohibited List.
It was the first violation for Mateo Nicolas whose account of how the betamethasone entered his system was accepted, bearing No Significant Fault or Negligence and with the player receiving a voluntary provisional suspension from 18 June 2019. Even though Martinez continued to play after providing a urine sample (he won the title at the beginning of June in Tunisia), the start of his ban was backdated to March 26th which means he will be able to compete again at the end of November 2020. Martinez never had the opportunity to compete on the ATP level, losing all three Challenger matches and building a career around the Futures events, with more than 300 encounters in singles and four titles from eight finals, three on hard courts. After those ranking changes at the end of 2018, Mateo Nicolas lost all the ATP points and will have to start all over from 2021 if he wants to extend career and at least earn some decent money on the Tour.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2JIjffB
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