Why Max Purcell coming clean may not help the Aussie tennis star escape doping

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Max Purcell’s voluntary doping admission may result in a lenient penalty, but the Aussie star may still have to cop the same treatment of a cheater.

You don’t have to dope to be treated like one.

That’s the cruel reality that Australian tennis star Max Purcell could be facing after he dobbed himself in for receiving a vitamin infusion above the legally allowed limit.

On the surface, the two-time Grand Slam doubles champion could – and probably should – receive a lenient penalty because he’s clearly no drug cheat, but these are tricky times in the increasingly murky and politicised world of anti-doping.

As the outspoken Nick Kyrgios, who is rarely known for diplomacy, put it in what could be the sporting understatement of the year, tweeted: “Gee wiz our sport is in the mud at the moment.”

Gee wiz our sport is in the mud at the moment

— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) December 23, 2024

He’s not wrong.

To succeed in professional tennis, players rely on precision timing. But Purcell’s timing could not have been worse.

Having broken free of its outdated links to posh society, tennis is now battling a serious drugs problem with a number of high profile players, including present and past world No.1s Jannik Sinner, Iga Swiatek and Simona Halep, having all tested positive to banned substances and all pleaded innocent.

Purcell has unwittingly been caught in the crossfire of an increasingly intense debate about the penalties being handed out for doping offences in tennis.

While the vitamins Purcell used are not performance-enhancing drugs and are permitted to be injected directly into human veins, the optics are not great because for what might seem like a pedantic offence, the penalties can still be severe.

U.S. Olympic swimming champion Ryan Lochte, one of the few men to defeat Michael Phelps at his peak, copped a 14-month ban in 2018 when he foolishly shared an Instagram photo of himself using an IV to inject vitamins.

Ryan Lochte via Instagram using an IV to inject vitamins.

While medically supervised injections of permitted substances are allowed, there are strict rules, including a limit of no more than 100 millilitres of fluid in a 12 hour period.

That’s what brought Lochte undone, and it’s also why Purcell is in hot water, even though he said he told the doctors he was an elite athlete so his dose had to be under 100ml.

The fact that he reported himself to the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) and accepted a provisional suspension may help him when his case is heard but he shouldn’t expect to get off scot-free.

While the sports world remains baffled at how 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive to a banned heart drug before the Tokyo Olympics all got let off, it’s extremely rare for athletes not to receive some type of sanction when they breach anti-doping regulations.

Purcell’s statement via social media. IG: maxpurcelll

Australian swimmer Shayna Jack has voiced her support to Australian tennis player Max Purcell

Since going public, Purcell has been inundated by messages of support, including a note on his Instagram page from Australian swimmer Shayna Jack, who wrote: “Thinking of you,”

More than any other Aussie athlete, Jack’s case still reeks of double standards, because she too was a victim of her time.

She tested positive to ligandrol just before the 2019 world swimming championships, when Mack Horton protested against FINA’s decision to let Sun Yang compete while he was under investigation for tampering with his samples.

The authorities threw the book at Jack, handing her a four-year ban that prevented her from competing at the Tokyo Olympics.

And although she was able to prove that she didn’t take any banned substances knowingly, and won two gold medals in Paris this year to crown her comeback, she still lost two years of her career and most of her life’s savings trying to clear her name.

Originally published as Why Max Purcell coming clean may not help the Aussie tennis star escape doping