00:00 Well, I wanted to stay silent, but now I feel the need to speak loud to my supporters, to my fans.
00:07 I'm not asking for a special treatment, I just want to be judged.
00:11 How much longer this is going to take?
00:13 I don't really know how I am, because the situation has been really hard and emotionally heavy.
00:27 The stress is huge, because I never thought I would face something like this.
00:32 Always I've been against doping and I'm a big supporter of a clean sport.
00:38 So, at the beginning I didn't know how to handle it, but over the time I just tried to stay calm.
00:46 And actually I feel confident, because I know I'm clean and I didn't take anything knowing that it's banned, a banned substance.
00:55 And this makes me feel a little bit better, but I'm trying to handle it as much as possible.
01:02 Well, I wanted to stay silent until the case will be solved.
01:13 I didn't want to get out and say, because it was very emotional and actually, as I said, I couldn't handle it very well.
01:21 But now I feel the need to speak loud to my supporters, to my fans, to the public,
01:28 because I'm sure that they really want to know why it's taking so long.
01:32 And I really felt the need to do that. That's why I'm here today.
01:36 Knowingly I have not taken any banned substance, because I'm a big supporter of a clean sport and I've always been against doping.
01:50 Always I've been careful to check all the components of the supplements, to make sure that everything is authorized.
01:56 It was a shock and I didn't know how to handle it.
01:59 No, I didn't know what Roxaduxat is. I had no idea, I never heard about it before.
02:05 So I just went online a little bit to find out something about it.
02:10 And it was like something big, because I read that it's a big substance, banned substance.
02:17 How did you get to know that it's a banned substance?
02:23 I had no clue at the beginning from where this substance is coming from.
02:29 And then I just wanted to ask the experts to explain to me how this happened and where it is coming from.
02:39 As I said, I never heard about it, so I didn't know where I could take it and actually to be in my urine.
02:47 The experts have worked a lot to find the reason of this contamination.
02:51 They found out that the supplement was contaminated in a very low quantity of substance.
02:57 A contamination is when someone takes an authorized supplement, but the company who sells it made a mistake
03:05 and there is a very low quantity of a banned substance that should not be there.
03:10 I have sent the evidence to the ITF and they denied it.
03:15 I sent it in December when we worked on it and the experts sent me the results that it's a contamination.
03:24 And as I said, ITF denied it and we are still going through it.
03:29 Since the ITF denies it, the only chance of this case to be solved is to go to the tribunal to have a hearing about my case
03:38 and there to present all the evidence that my positive test is a contaminated supplement.
03:45 The hearing on 28th of February didn't happen because ITF requested more time to do additional testing.
03:57 Even if I was looking forward to that, I agreed and the hearing was postponed on 24th of March.
04:02 The ITF requested that the hearing on 24th of March should be cancelled.
04:08 I did not agree with that because, as the rule says, a player that is provisionally suspended
04:14 is entitled to get an expedited hearing.
04:19 Because everything takes so long, I asked the ITF to lift up my suspension to be able to play, but they also refused it.
04:33 I've been notified in October that my urine test in August was tested positive.
04:39 Since then, I had 10 tests in a row that all of them are negative, but it was blood and urine at the same time.
04:47 The next step is that the hearing will take place at the end of May,
04:52 but it is very fragile because the ITF said that they might cancel it as well.
04:56 If they do that, it will be like almost 8 months since I've been provisionally suspended for the first time,
05:04 and I believe that it's not fair to stay 8 months without even being judged by the tribunal.
05:10 Emotionally, it has been not easy the whole period, and I just felt the need to speak loud to my fans, to my supporters,
05:20 actually to the public, because I'm sure they really want to know what is going on and why it takes so long.
05:27 I wanted actually at the beginning to remain silent until the case is solved, but it's too heavy,
05:34 so I felt that it's really good for me actually, at least, to speak it loud.
05:45 It's been 7 months since I'm provisionally suspended, even if I have all the evidence since December.
05:52 I'm not asking for a special treatment, I just want to be judged.
05:56 I'm thinking how much longer this is going to take.
05:59 Until now, it is the hardest battle that I faced in my life, in my career.
06:12 I have received a letter from the ATF telling me that I've been tested positive with an extremely low quantity of Roxaduxat.
06:21 The first thing I did was texting Patrick, my coach, to ask him if I understand well that my urine test turned positive.
06:30 Since that moment, I could count on him, on his help, and because he was next to me on every step, we could find the truth.
06:41 I felt the support of people, of my fans, and actually of everyone.
06:47 I felt that they don't believe that I normally took something that is banned,
06:52 and this made me feel stronger to come back and to work harder to get the level that I've been before or even more.
07:00 So I'm working on that, and I really want to come back to tennis and to play at the high level.
07:06 It looks like they really got my personality and the way I am, so that makes me really happy and gives me power to fight for the truth and to come back to tennis.
07:17 I really want to play again because I love this sport, and I really want to play for the big titles again.
07:29 I have worked, I kept playing because I had the hope that the case is going to be solved.
07:35 I had many delays, which was not easy to stay focused, but I did my best,
07:40 and I stayed actually as much as possible focused to work and to practice as much as possible.
07:48 Well, until now, tennis has always been my life, and I feel that I want to do it again.
07:55 When I come back, I want to be as strong as I've been before, even more, if it's possible.
08:02 I'm working for that, and I know that I'm going to struggle because I have almost eight months
08:08 without an official match and all the pressure that it was about this case,
08:14 but I strongly believe that if I work hard, I can be again at the high level.
08:25 At this age, I think it's really tough to lose days, weeks and months because you are scared also
08:32 about the injuries when you don't have official matches. It is more risky,
08:37 and if the time passes like this, the harder it is to come back.
08:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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