Former Australian tennis player and coach Marinko Matosevic has been handed a four-year suspension from the sport after an independent tribunal found he committed multiple breaches of anti-doping regulations.

The ruling was announced by the International Tennis Integrity Agency, which concluded that Matosevic violated anti-doping rules on five separate occasions between twenty eighteen and twenty twenty.

The findings included the use of a prohibited method through blood doping while he was still competing professionally, as well as the use and possession of the banned substance clenbuterol.

Investigators also determined that Matosevic went beyond personal misconduct by assisting other players in illicit practices.

According to the tribunal’s decision, he facilitated blood-doping activity and provided advice on how athletes could avoid detection during anti-doping testing.

Matosevic, now forty, reached a career-high ranking of world No. thirty-nine in twenty thirteen and retired from professional tennis in twenty eighteen.

After leaving the tour, he transitioned into coaching, working with Australian players including Jordan Thompson and Chris O’Connell.

In a written statement made public during the investigation, Matosevic acknowledged that he had undergone a blood transfusion in February twenty eighteen in Mexico, describing the decision as a serious personal mistake taken during a period of health difficulties.

The admission later became a central element of the disciplinary case.

The four-year sanction prohibits Matosevic from coaching, training or otherwise participating in professional tennis activities until March twenty thirty.

The penalty reflects what regulators described as multiple and serious violations of the sport’s anti-doping code.

The case has drawn attention across the tennis community because blood doping has rarely been documented in the sport, where most anti-doping cases have historically involved banned substances rather than transfusion-based methods.

With the ruling now in force, tennis authorities say the decision underscores the importance of maintaining strict integrity standards across both players and support personnel involved in the professional game.