Reuters
The Court of Arbitration for Sport, a Swiss-based court, overturned the three-month doping ban slapped against Italian tennis pro Filippo Volandri on the eve of Australian Open earlier this year.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) issued this suspension following Volandri’s failure to pass the doping test conducted during last year’s Indian Wells tournament. The Italian player maintained that he was forced to take more doses of salbutamol to treat the severe asthma attack he suffered prior to his first round match at the aforementioned tournament.
“The nightmare is over. CAS recognized my good faith. I used the drug only for therapeutic needs and the ban was excessive,” Volandri was quoted as saying.
The court ruled that Volandri will regain ATP ranking points and earnings in the amount of $166,000 lost during a nine month period. Other details of the decision will be announced in the following weeks.
As for Volandri, the nightmare’s over and he can now start concentrating in winning matches in succeeding tournaments. He revealed that he continued his training despite the suspension.
“Finally I can start playing again. I didn’t skip one day of training,” he said.
Volandri hopes he have enough ranking points to compete in next month’s French Open. If not, he revealed that he will start over and compete in Challenger tournaments.
