Switzerland: Serbian tennis player Viktor Troicki had his doping ban reduced to 12 months on Tuesday, though he still cannot play in next week's Davis Cup final.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said Troicki should serve a 12-month ban instead of 18 months for skipping a blood test after losing at the Monte Carlo Masters in April.
"The player committed a doping offence, but his fault was not significant," the court said in a statement.
Troicki, 27, will be cleared to play again by the International Tennis Federation on July 15.
Serbia plays the Czech Republic in the Davis Cup final in Belgrade next week.
In 2010, Troicki won the decisive singles rubber in the final against France to give Serbia its first title.
Ranked No. 53 when he was banned by an ITF tribunal in July, he has fallen to No. 77.
Troicki appealed against his 18-month ban, claiming that an anti-doping officer in Monte Carlo advised him to write to the governing body explaining his reason for not giving a blood sample. He had already given a urine sample which later tested negative.
The CAS panel acknowledged that the tournament anti-doping officer "should have informed the player in clearer terms of the risks caused by his refusal to undergo a blood test."
The court added "there was no suggestion that Mr. Troicki intended to evade the detection of a banned substance in his system."
Still, the panel considered one year as a "just and appropriate sanction," and the minimum required in such a case according to ITF anti-doping rules.
