Croatian Marin Cilic’s announcement during Wimbledon that he was pulling out of the tournament due to a knee injury was to avoid “adverse publicity” from the fact he had failed a drugs test, the full findings of the case have revealed.
Cilic, the No 10 seed at Wimbledon, was banned for nine months last week after testing positive for a banned supplement.
He had been one of the leading players at Wimbledon, having finished runner-up to Andy Murray at Queens, but pulled out of his match against France’s Kenny de Schepper on June 26 having accepted a provisional suspension for the positive test but cited a knee injury as the reason.
He was one of seven players to withdraw such a higher number led to an inquest into the state of the courts.
Cilic, 24, tested positive for banned supplement nikethamide after taking Coramine glucose tablets bought at a pharmacy in Monte Carlo.
The tribunal heard the tablets’ information leaflet contained a warning for athletes that they could lead to a positive test, but Cilic argued that he could not understand French.
The tribunal’s findings stated that the player could easily have checked before taking the tablets, but accepted he had inadvertently ingested the nikethamide and “did not intend to enhance his performance in doing so”.
The tribunal said the offence was “not at the most serious end of the scale” but still warranted a nine-month ban.
Cilic has said he will appeal against the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.