According to the Associated Press on Wednesday, Spanish tennis player Fernando Verdasco has been suspended two months for testing positive for a medication used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The banned drug was reportedly methylphenidate.
Verdasco reportedly admitted he forgot to “renew his therapeutic use exemption for the drug” in the Associated Press report. What makes things interesting is that the 39-year-old initially tested positive at a minor ATP challenger event in Brazil this past February, and it literally took nine months for Verdasco to be suspended for two months.
Something else that is weird and strange regarding this suspension is the timing. Verdasco is basically been given a slap on the wrist because tennis is in its offseason at the moment. He will not miss any significant tournaments as Verdasco is eligible to return to action January 8 according to The Score. That will give him ample opportunity to prepare for the 2023 Australian Open.
Verdasco has reached a career-high ranking of number seven in the world. His best grand slam result was a semifinal appearance at the 2009 Australian Open where he lost in five sets to Rafael Nadal, his Spanish countryman.
This has been the second notable suspension in the tennis world over the last couple of months. In October, Simona Halep of Romania was suspended indefinitely for failing a doping test at the 2022 United States Open. Halep is a two-time grand slam champion, as she won the 2018 French Open title as well as the 2019 Wimbledon Championship.
