SYDNEY (AP) — Two-time Grand Slam doubles champion Max Purcell has accepted an 18-month ban after breaching anti-doping rules, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said Tuesday.
The Australian player admitted to a breach of rules relating to the use of a “prohibited method” after unknowingly receiving an intravenous infusion of vitamins above the allowed limit of 100 milliliters in a 12-hour span and entered into a provisional suspension in mid-December.
Purcell said he'd informed the clinic he was a professional athlete and that the infusion had to be less than 100 milliliters.
The ITIA said the 27-year-old had received IV infusions of over 500 milliliters twice but his full cooperation and information sharing during the investigation had allowed for a 25% reduction in the sanction.
“This case does not involve a player testing positive for a prohibited substance but demonstrates that the anti-doping rules are broader than that,” ITIA chief executive Karen Moorhouse said. “It also shows the ITIA considers intelligence from a range of sources with the overriding aim to protect everyone covered by the tennis anti-doping rules, and ensure a level playing field for all.”
Purcell said the stress of the ongoing case had been “seriously affecting (his) quality of life” over the past few months.
“From being unable to sleep and eat properly, and refusing to be by myself, to developing nervous and anxious tics which I still currently battle day to day,” Purcell said in a statement he posted to Instagram.
“I couldn’t sit and enjoy anything without the thought of the case and the endless possibilities of what sanction I would receive. I’m so glad this is finally over for me and I can move on with my life.”
Purcell teamed with Jordan Thompson to win the U.S. Open last September, and with Matt Ebden to win Wimbledon in 2022.
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
FILE -Max Purcell, of Australia, returns to Gael Monfils, of France, at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, March 7, 2024, in Indian Wells, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela's leader.
Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country's oil products.
Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”
“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.
“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”
Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.
Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro's capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.
Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.
“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”
A person watches the oil tanker Ocean Mariner, Monrovia, arrive to the bay in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
President Donald Trump attends a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
