Wednesday’s decision by the ATP’s three-man appeals panel clearing Greg Rusedski of a drug offence allows the British No 2 to recommence his career and resume normal life. But such are the doubts that remain about why he and so many other tennis players have been found with suspiciously high levels of the steroid nandrolone that it will take the game far longer to return to normality. Although Rusedski walks free, tennis remains in the dock.
Rusedski was cleared because the ATP had already accepted that seven positive tests for nandrolone were caused by contaminated salt tablets that had been dispensed by the association’s own trainers. There is no evidence that the tablets were contaminated, but neither has it been possible to prove they were