Doping in Tennis: After Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner, another grand slam winner has accepted voluntary suspension for breaching anti-doping rules.

Two-time Grand Slam winning doubles player Max Purcell is the latest player to face suspension.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) on Monday (December 23) announced the sanction in a statement after the 26-year-old Australian admitted to violating Article 2.2 of the Tennis Anti-Doping Program "relating to the use of a Prohibited Method".

The ITIA said the suspension came into effect on 12 December, and time served under provisional suspension will be credited against any future sanction. The length of time of the voluntary suspension, however, was not specified by the ITIA.

"During the provisional suspension, Purcell is prohibited from playing in, coaching at, or attending any tennis event authorized or sanctioned by the members of the ITIA (ATP, ITF, WTA, Tennis Australia, Federation FranÇaise de Tennis, Wimbledon and USTA) or any national association," the ITIA statement read.

Purcell, who partnered compatriot Jordan Thompson, won the US Open in September earlier this year after winning the Wimbledon doubles title with another Australian, Matthew Ebden, in 2022.

The 26-year-old, currently ranked No. 12 in doubles, had also finished as a runner-up in the Australian Open doubles final twice, in 2020 and 2022.

Purcell, ranked No. 105 in singles, was not listed on the Australian Open entry lists released earlier this month and did not receive a wildcard or feature on the qualifying entries. The ITIA did not say whether Purcell's absence from the draw of the tournament, starting January 12, was due to the sanction.

The latest doping violation in tennis comes just weeks after five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine. In 2022, Simona Halep also faced a ban due to doping violation.

Top-ranked men's player Sinner, winner of two Grand Slams this year, was exonerated by the ITIA after twice testing positive for a trace amount of an anabolic steroid in March with the World Anti-Doping Agency appealing the ruling.

Several other stars including, Maria Sharapova, Martina Hingis, Adnre Agassi, Marin Cilic and Richard Gasquet, have all been reprimanded by the tennis bodies earlier, but the recent violations make the sport's intergrity murkier.