Tennis player Wayne Odesnik, has been banned for 15 years for failing a second doping test in five years.
The ban ends the ATP Tour career of the American, who is ranked 267th in the world.
Odesnik tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs last December, after the International Tennis Federation sent samples of his urine to several labs. The results show they tested positive for anabolic steroids.
“Those samples were sent to WADA-accredited laboratories in Salt Lake City, USA and Montreal, Canada for analysis, and were found to contain one or more of: metabolites of methenolone; metabolites of androst,” the ITF said in a joint news release with the United States Anti-Doping Agency.
Odesnik was previously banned for two years in 2010, for being in possession of human growth hormone. The suspension was later reduced to one year, after he co-operated with the ITF’s anti-doping programme.
The South African-born Odesnik, has now announced his retirement from the game, claiming he did not know that a supplement he bought over the counter, could contain a banned substance.
“Upon learning of my positive test results, I was immediately heartbroken as words could not describe my shock and disappointment,” he explained.
“Being the most tested American tennis player on tour, I would never knowingly have taken any chance of consuming a banned substance.”
The 29-year-old will now forfeit any prize money he won from the Australian Open and two lower level Challenger series events.