Australian Thomas Fancutt has revealed the mental toll of having to sit through a doping ban for taking an intravenous vitamin infusion in December 2024

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) issued a 10-month doping ban to Aussie doubles player, despite pleading that he “unknowingly violated an anti-doping rule” when taking an intravenous vitamin infusion, which also coincided with his career-high world doubles ranking of 107 in the same month.

Fancutt unintentionally had more than the 100ml limit in a 12-hour period.

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Officials found Fancutt had not known he was breaking any rules and accepted the violation was a one-off, and accepted that he had likely received the IV for a “purpose other than the enhancement of sport performance.”

At first he was offered a two-year ban, but that was dropped to ten months.

Thomas Fancutt. Getty

Having returned to professional tennis on January, Fancutt said the last year has tested his resolve.

“I hate that forever I’m going to have this paint on me that I was done for doping,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald.

“It’s an awful feeling for me personally but what really hurt me was the thought that I embarrassed the family name.

“I had people messaging me saying that I was an embarrassment to Australia, that I was an embarrassment to tennis, and I was an embarrassment to the Fancutt family. That really cut me.”

Despite the governing bodies ruling his ban was due to recklessness than derliberate cheating, the backlash came thick and fast.

“It was probably the lowest, the biggest mental health struggles I’ve ever had to experience in my life. You’re just embarrassed.

“I’d be in and out of, ‘Is this really happening?'”

Thomas Fancutt. Getty Images for Tennis Australi

To get through his ban, Fancutt turned to coaching after forfeiting results and prize money he amassed over more than a year.

“There’s the biggest fire in my stomach … it’s hard to explain,” he said.

“I’ve always had a drive to be good, for sure, for me and my family and everything, but right now I’ve got this real hunger to compete and really show everyone what I can do.

“I know I can be world-class.”

Fancutt’s ban follows an 18-month suspension to doubles grand slam champion Max Purcell, who also “unknowingly received an IV infusion” that measured above the limit.