Gasquet says he may have picked up cocaine traces at Miami party

PARIS - Richard Gasquet, facing a two-year ban after testing positive at the Miami Masters, said Friday he might have come into contact with cocaine at a party before the event which he did not play due to injury.

The under-fire Frenchman told French radio Europe 1 that a person he did not identify had offered him the drug but he had refused.

“I’ve never taken any cocaine in my life, I can swear it,” said the No. 21. “It was something small, they found 150 nanograms, I have been told it is the equivalent of one tenth of a line.

“I saw one person who was at that party and this person told me they were offered cocaine that night.”

Gasquet, 22, is provisionally suspended until an investigation into the incident is completed, a matter which could take months.

“I’ve been trying to understand what happened, I can’t sleep at night,” he said.