Cocaine in tennis: How common is it, and how have previous cases been sanctioned?
August 21, 2026An Australian tennis player testing positive for cocaine is unusual. It is not, however, without precedent.
The Anti-Doping Database currently has 169 doping cases involving tennis players. Ten (or more than 5 percent) of those cases involve cocaine.
That makes cocaine one of the most frequently recorded substances in tennis in our database. Cannabis has the most cases with 16, while cocaine and hydrochlorothiazide both have 10. Stanozolol follows with nine and nandrolone with eight.
The ten cocaine cases in tennis are spread across nine countries. Spain has two cases, while Morocco, Colombia, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Norway have one each.
We have not previously registered an Australian tennis player in a cocaine case.
Sanctions range from one month to two years
There is no single outcome when looking at the previous cocaine cases in tennis.
Four of the ten athletes were suspended for two years. Three received three-month suspensions. The remaining cases resulted in suspensions of one month, one year and 14 months.
Two years is also the most common sanction when looking at tennis doping cases overall. Of the 169 tennis cases registered in the database, 39 resulted in a two-year suspension. Seventeen resulted in one year, 16 in four years, 13 in two months and 12 in three months.
The figures alone do not explain why athletes received different sanctions. The circumstances of each case, the applicable anti-doping rules and when the violation occurred have to be considered when comparing cases.
How long the Australian athlete may be suspended is uncertain. If the tennis-player can prove that the prohibited substance was taken out-of-competition, he will most likely be given a one month suspension. If not it could be longer. The length of sanctions involving cocaine are being shorter.
Cocaine across sports
The Anti-Doping Database currently contains 269 cases involving cocaine.
Football has the highest number with 41 cases, followed by rugby with 25 and American football with 23. Track and field has 18, basketball and ice hockey 14 each, cycling 13 and handball 11.
Tennis, with ten cases, is ninth on the list.
The United States has the most cocaine cases in the database with 34, followed by the United Kingdom with 24 and Canada with 19. Australia has 15.
The Australian cases have mainly come from rugby. Eight of the 15 cases involve rugby players. The remaining cases are from baseball, surfing, American football, cycling, football, equestrian and water polo.
Cocaine is not among Australia's most frequently recorded substances
Looking at Australian doping cases more broadly also puts the latest case into perspective.
The most frequently recorded substance among Australian cases in the Anti-Doping Database is methylhexaneamine, with 42 cases. Cannabis follows with 34, while stanozolol has 24, clenbuterol 23, and testosterone and nandrolone 22 each.
Cocaine does not appear among the ten most frequently recorded substances for Australian athletes.
Rugby is by far the sport with the most Australian doping cases in the database, with 90. Bodybuilding follows with 53 and cycling with 37. Tennis does not appear among Australia's ten sports with the most registered cases.
The latest case is therefore unusual from an Australian perspective, but cocaine itself is not unknown in tennis. Ten previous tennis cases are registered in the Anti-Doping Database, with sanctions ranging from one month to two years.
The Anti-Doping Database has collected publicly disclosed anti-doping cases since 2005 and contains historical cases dating back to 1968. The database does not contain every anti-doping rule violation. Figures in this article refer to cases registered in the Anti-Doping Database.