Serbian Viktor Troicki was banned from tennis for a year, initially 18 months, on charges that he refused to take a blood test after a first-round loss at the 2013 Monte Carlo Masters. He denied any wrongdoing and returned in July 2014, ranked in the mid-800s.

 

DPA/Belgrade


Serbian tennis player Viktor Troicki aims to return into the world elite in 2015 and help Serbia mount another Davis Cup challenge to complete his comeback from a doping-related ban. “In principle, I’m satisfied,” he told Belgrade TV B92 in an interview. “My goal was to return to the first 100 and I achieved that. Okay, I’m 102nd, but it was primary to enter the Australian Open (starting in mid-January) in the main draw - and that will happen.”
Troicki was banned from tennis for a year, initially 18 months, on charges that he refused to take a blood test after a first-round loss at the 2013 Monte Carlo Masters. He denied any wrongdoing and returned in July 2014, ranked in the mid-800s.
The now 28-year-old helped Serbia, led by star player Novak Djokovic, to their lone Davis Cup title in 2010 by winning the final rubber. His career-best ranking was 12th in 2011. Now he wants similar success, saying “the goal is to enter the top 10” and adding that in Davis Cup “we aim to field the strongest team - I love to and want to play for my country and we all give our best to go as far as possible.”
Troicki returned from the ban at the Swiss Open but was also forced to play in challenger tournaments to collect points for the crucial rise through the ranks. “I think I could have done more, but the fact is that I only played four months and was unable to play major tournaments. I think the upcoming season will be better,” he said.
Now training in Australia for his season opener in Brisbane, he said that even during his suspension he sought to improve. “I worked constantly to improve my game, with becoming a bit more aggressive one of the key tasks,” he said.
Troicki said throughout the doping rules case that he was wronged and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the World Anti-Doping- Agency (WADA) made a case out of him. Banned for refusing to take a blood test, he insisted that he asked for a delay until the next morning because he was unwell, that the controlling officer initially allowed it, but later negated that she consented. The ITF and WADA believed the officer.
“When ITF and WADA make a mistake, they protect themselves. They’re too big to be wrong and that is why I suffered, just like Cilic did,” he said.
He was referring to Croat Marin Cilic, expelled last year for four months over what he said was an accidental ingestion of a banned substance.
“The ITF wants to justify its existence and grabs onto every detail. It is horrible that they want to ruin the career of an athlete - they go for total destruction,” Troicki said. “They asked for a maximum suspension, two years, both for Cilic and myself. It’s frightening.”
At the same time, Troicki, whose ban was reduced from 18 to 12 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, said that he does not oppose drug tests. “Each sport should have them and test athletes,” he said, but urged for protection of players against mistakes.
Troicki said that he was additionally hurt when some of his friends refused to support him. “I talked a lot about it and am not revisiting gladly. It is a bad memory, a scar ... I don’t want to name those people who proved to be not such good friends,” he said.
However, that remark was not about Djokovic, a close friend who was among his staunchest supporters and critics of the ban. Troicki was in the inner circle at Djokovic’s wedding last summer.