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I wanted to let you know that a few days ago, I
received a letter from the ITF that I had failed a drug
test at the Australian Open.
I did fail the test, and I take full responsibility for it.
For the past 10 years, I have been
given a medicine called Mildronate by my family doctor.
And a few days ago, after I received the ITF letter,
I found out that it also has another name of Meldonium,
which I did not know.
It's very important for you to understand that for 10 years,
this medicine was not on WADA's ban list,
and I had been legally taking the medicine for the past 10
years.
I made a huge mistake, and I've let my fans down.
I've let the sport down that I've
been playing since the age of four, that I love so deeply.
I know that with this, I face consequences.
And I don't want to end my career this way.
And I really hope that I will be given another chance
to play this game.
And I know many of you thought that I
would be retiring today and announcing my retirement,
but if I was ever going to announce my retirement,
it would probably not be in a downtown Los Angeles hotel
with this fairly ugly carpet.