'Banned' Cilic denies 'faking injury to disguise failed drug test' allegations

Croatian tennis player Marin Cilic has reportedly denied allegations by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) that he had pulled out of this year's Wimbledon Championships by faking a knee injury to disguise a failed drug test.

Cilic was banned for nine months for testing positive for banned supplement nikethamide after taking Coramine glucose tablets purchased at a pharmacy in Monte Carlo.

Stating that he wanted to address 'certain media reports' which suggested that he had 'feigned' an injury at Wimbledon, Cilic said that he had already developed a significant knee injury before Wimbledon, which got aggravated during his first round match.

However, Cilic insisted that although he was very keen to continue playing at Wimbledon, he was advised that there was a possibility that his Wimbledon results could be wiped out depending on the result of his case.

According to Cilic, it did not make any sense for him to risk causing his knee a more severe injury and to deprive other players the opportunity of playing further into the tournament, following which he decided to pull out of Wimbledon and accept a voluntary suspension pending the determination of his case.