Gasquet tests positive for cocaine

French tennis player Richard Gasquet tested positive for cocaine at a tournament in Miami last month, the world number 23 said yesterday.

"The B sample test from March 2009, during the Miami tournament, in which I did not take part, confirms the positive results from the A sample," he said in a statement read out on French radio RTL.

Gasquet said he had a hair sample tested by an independent lab "which showed no trace of cocaine".

"Given the complexity of the case, I am gathering the evidence of my innocence and will later set a date to make further comments," the 22-year-old added.

Gasquet had pulled out of the Sony Ericsson Open without playing a match, citing a shoulder injury.

The French tennis federation (FFT) said earlier yesterday it was aware of the failed test by Gasquet, who could face a two-year suspension from the sport.

"This piece of information, that is very surprising (...) would be, if confirmed according to official proceedings, a very sad one for Richard Gasquet himself, for tennis in general and for French tennis in particular," the FFT said in a statement.

"As for now, the FFT does not wish to make further comments because it is up to the anti-doping authorities, within the International Tennis Federation (ITF), to assess such a case."

French veteran Fabrice Santoro, who trains under the same Team Lagardere structure as Gasquet, told French radio Europe 1: "I have known Richard since he was nine so I am very surprised.

"I know his lifestyle and I am extremely surprised because it does not fit the character. I spoke to him over the phone, he is sad and very shocked."

Gasquet is not the first tennis player to fail a test for the recreational drug.

Former women's world number one Martina Hingis tested positive for the banned substance in 2007 and promptly announced her retirement from the sport, saying she had "no desire to spend the next several years of my life reduced to fighting against the doping officials."

Former men's world number one Mats Wilander of Sweden was suspended for three months for cocaine use along with doubles partner Karel Novacek at the 1995 French Open.

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