Britain's Greg Rusedski , who has admitted failing a drugs test, will carry on playing until a hearing next month and organisers of the Australian Open said he would be welcome at the first grand slam of the season.
Despite the announcement of the second positive test in men's tennis in three days, the Open's tournament director Paul McNamee denied the sport had a drugs problem.
Rusedski
The British number two, who tested positive for the steroid nandrolone at a tournament in July, denied taking performance-enhancing drugs.
"This is a very complex situation which once understood will clearly demonstrate my total innocence," he said in a statement.
In July the governing body of men's tennis, the ATP, said its trainers might have unwittingly given illegal substances to its players via electrolyte replacement products. They said these products might have been contaminated with nandrolone.
As a result, the ATP lifted a two-year suspension on Czech player Bohdan Ulihrach for a nandrolone offence. During the period between late August 2002 and mid-May 2003, another six samples registered nandrolone metabolites above the limit mandated by the International Olympic Committee.
The ATP declined to comment on
"This is a confidential process so we can't comment on it. Under the anti-doping programme, the ATP does not make any comment until the whole process has been examined," a spokesman said.
arrived in Sydney to play in a major warm-up event, before the Melbourne Park tournament gets underway on January 19th, but evaded the media today and was quickly escorted from the airport. Rusedski 's case today.
Rusedski
Nandrolone is an anabolic steroid which promotes muscle growth and helps rapid recovery from injury by duplicating the effect of the male sex hormone testosterone. It is produced naturally in some animals.
A number of athletes, including British 400 metres runner Mark Richardson, have claimed they tested positive for nandrolone by ingesting contaminated food supplements.
On Wednesday, Argentine Mariano Puerta was banned for nine months, fined and stripped of ranking points after testing positive for clenbuterol during an ATP event in Chile last year.
Puerta was the third Argentine in three years to be banned for doping following Juan Ignacio Chela and Guillermo Coria's bans in 2001.
Chela was suspended for three months after testing positive for methyltestosterone, while Coria, now ranked world number five, was suspended for seven months and fined $98,500 after testing positive for nandrolone.
Former Australian Open champion Petr Korda was found to have used nandrolone at the 1998 Wimbledon championships and was also banned for a year after protracted appeals.
, hampered over the past two years by a series of injuries, will attend a drugs' hearing on February 9th in Montreal.