Former Wimbledon doubles champion Max Purcell has accepted a provisional suspension for a breach of the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency announced the news on Monday, confirming that the ban came into effect on December 12.

It means, at this stage, the 26-year-old will not be able to compete in his home Grand Slam tournament, the upcoming Australian Open.

The ITIA said Purcell had admitted to a breaching article 2.2 of the TADP “relating to the use of a Prohibited Method”. He requested to enter into a provisional suspension on December 10 and this started two days later.

Any time served under the provisional suspension will count towards any future sanctions. However, the ITIA did not say how long the current ban would last for.

The body will not offer any further comment while the matter is ongoing.

While he is suspended, Purcell is “prohibited from playing in, coaching at, or attending any tennis event authorised or sanctioned by the members of the ITIA (ATP, ITF, WTA, Tennis Australia, French Tennis Federation, Wimbledon and USTA) or any national association.”

At present, Purcell will be forced to miss the Australian summer of tennis in January. He did not appear on the entry list for the singles event at the Australian Open.

With a ranking of No. 105, he just missed the main draw cut-off. Purcell did not receive a wildcard or appear on the qualifying list.

Purcell and the ITIA have not confirmed whether this is due to his provisional suspension.

He would have been expected to play doubles alongside his partner Jordan Thompson, with whom he lifted the US Open title this year. Purcell also won Wimbledon with Matt Ebden in 2022.

Purcell has also finished runner-up at the Australian Open doubles event twice with different partners in 2020 and 2022.

The news of Purcell’s anti-doping breach comes weeks after WTA world No. 2 Iga Swiatek accepted a one-month ban after testing positive for a prohibited substance in an out-of-competition sample.

She was provisionally suspended and missed three tournaments but successfully appealed this ban and was allowed to return to competition after 22 days.

The ITIA accepted that the positive test was caused by contamination of a regulated non-prescription medication. Following an investigation, Swiatek accepted a one-month ban.

She served eight more days, with time in her provisional suspension credited, and her ban was lifted on December 4.