Richard Gasquet innocent in doping charges

Good news for Richard Gasquet, the former French number one men's tennis player.

He has been cleared of any claims of doping by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

While "justice has been done" as far as Gasquet is concerned, and he's "ready to turn the page and get on with his career", it seems as though the 23-year-old still has a few scores to settle and rumours to scotch.

Most notably the remarks made by a former fellow professional, Henri Leconte, who had been less than supportive when the story first broke, and rumours surrounding his relationship with the publishing, media, aerospace and retail mogul, Arnaud Lagardère.

On Thursday the CAS threw out an appeal made by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which had wanted him banned for two years for testing positive for cocaine.

Back in July a three-man independent ITF tribunal had accepted Gasquet's version of events surrounding "the kiss" that had led him to becoming "inadvertently contaminated" during a tournament in Miami; one in which he had been scheduled to play but had withdrawn from before the first round because of a shoulder injury.

The tribunal had given Gasquet a two month and 15 day suspension retroactively from May 1, effectively clearing him to return to competition.

But both the ITF and WADA had appealed to tribunal's findings, requesting that the player be banned from competition for two years. It was that appeal that the CAS rejected on Thursday, effectively supporting Gasquet's claims of having been an innocent victim in the affair.

Since the verdict, Gasquet has given interviews across the French media - an indication perhaps on how much interest there has been in this country in the story over the past eight months.

Appearing on national radio on Friday, Gasquet said he had appreciated the support he had received from people close to him and many other professionals on the tennis circuit, but that he would never forget the comments Leconte had made which had questioned his version of events.

"There weren't a lot of negative remarks thank goodness, and by far the most virulent reaction was from Leconte," he said.

I don't know why he said that. Perhaps he wanted to make himself sound interesting," he added.

"He's not the most refined or intelligent person we know in Paris.

"I won't forget, that's for sure."

Richard Gasquet règle ses comptes avec Henri Leconte
par Europe1fr

On Thursday just hours after the verdict, a relieved Gasquet appeared on the mid-evening television news magazine "Le Grand Journal" on Canal +, alongside Lagardère: a chance for the player to recount what life had been like since the story first broke, his plans for the future and for the two men to put paid to rumours that they had been lovers.

And about those rumours, after Lagardère had unequivocally denied there being any truth of a sexual relationship between the two men, Gasquet added, "Homosexual with Arnaud....Drugged and homosexual, definitely not."