LONDON — Two-time Grand Slam winner Lleyton Hewitt has received a two-week suspension for an incident involving an anti-doping official.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency announced on Wednesday that this suspension, which lasts from September 25 to October 7, is designed to avoid causing undue disruption to Hewitt’s upcoming Davis Cup commitments.
The altercation took place last November when Hewitt, serving as Australia’s team captain, pushed a 60-year-old volunteer anti-doping chaperone after a semifinal defeat against Italy.
Hewitt has refuted the allegations, claiming he acted in self-defense.
The case was brought before an independent tribunal by the ITIA, which ultimately upheld the charge of inappropriate conduct. They concluded that Hewitt’s actions “did not qualify as self-defense” and deemed his response “neither reasonable nor proportionate.”
The 44-year-old Hewitt, who once held the title of the world’s top-ranked men’s tennis player, has also incurred a fine of approximately $20,000.
