Davis Cup captain says Rusedski should be cleared on drugs issue

DAVID LLOYD yesterday came out fighting in support of Greg Rusedski and insisted the Association of Tennis Professionals must act on precedent and clear the British number two at his drugs-test tribunal next month.

Rusedski's failed test showed traces of the banned substance nandrolone and he faces a hearing in Montreal on February 9 which could result in a lengthy ban.

But Lloyd, Britain's Davis Cup captain, claims the ATP must base their verdict on the criteria they used last year to clear seven other players.

The governing body of men's tennis halted action against the players because the ATP's own trainers had handed out supplements contaminated with nandrolone.

Lloyd, who slammed the manner in which Rusedski's positive test was leaked to the media, is emphatic he cannot be found guilty if other players who tested positive were let off.

The ATP stopped dishing out the contaminated supplements in May last year so the date of Rusedski's failed test, believed to be during a tournament in Indianapolis in July, will now come under scrutiny.

The ATP are desperate to avoid another drugs-testing farce but David Higdon, the organisation's vice-president of corporate2.

International Tennis Federation general secretary Deborah Jevans also suggested Rusedski's fate will be judged on the exact dates he took supplements.

Asked how long nandrolone stays in an athlete's body, she explained: "It depends on the amount you take but it's more likely to be days than months.

"If Greg says he took the supplement way back, it's up to his medical team and lawyers to show that's the source of his positive test and that he took it unknowingly.

"If he shows it was there unknowingly, his sentence will be reduced or nullified.

"But Greg is responsible for what's in his body as no-one forced him to take anything.

"Everyone will appreciate that saying 'I don't know how it got there' is not an acceptable excuse."