Brussels - The contentious "whereabouts" rule for doping tests may get a first legal test after a Belgian body banned US Open semi-finalist Yanina Wickmayer and 2002 Wimbledon semi-finalist Xavier Malisse for a year after missing tests, Belgian media reported Thursday. Wickmayer, currently competing in Bali at the Tournament of Champions, and due to play Friday, for a semi-final place, were said to have been suspended for a year by a Flemish anti-doping tribunal.
Reports indicate the 18-year-old Wickmayer failed to fulfill the controversial rule by which players must notify anti-doping czars of their daily location for an hour a day every day of the year.
That draconian regulation has drawn fire from Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal for its intrusive nature.
Malisse was punished for missing a test, media reported. Appeals can be made to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.
