"Taking the provisional suspension is the best decision that we have to make right now," Brooksby, a 22-year-old from Sacramento, California, currently ranked as world number 101, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

"I've never failed a drug test.

"I've never taken any bad substances."

He plans to go to arbitration with the ITIA, which oversees doping cases in tennis, where his case will be put by lawyer Howard Jacobs, who also represents Simona Halep, Romania’s two-time Grand Slam champion, who recently had a hearing related to charges the ITIA brought against her after she failed a drug test at last year's US Open.

Under anti-doping rules, athletes can be penalised without a positive test if they have three "whereabout failures" within a year's span.

In Brooksby’s case, three missed tests have been registered within a 12-month period from April 2022.

Jacobs commented: "'Whereabouts' is a pretty tough requirement for them, with how much they're travelling.

"There's no allegations he took any banned substances and we're confident about the case's outcome."

Jacobs said he expects there to be an arbitration hearing for Brooksby in the next few months.

Brooksby has been world-ranked as high as 33 but has been unable to compete for nearly six months after requiring two operations for dislocated wrist tendons - on his left arm in March, and on his right in May.

He has not played on tour since January, when he upset three-time Grand Slam runner-up Casper Ruud of Norway in the second round of the Australian Open before losing to eventual semi-finalist and compatriot Tommy Paul in the third.

Shortly after that tournament, Brooksby split from his long-time coach, Joseph Gilbert.

"Since Australia, it's, for sure, been the toughest part of my life, having to deal with so many different issues," he said.

"The wrists were a struggle.

"Then at the same time, leaving my coach who I had been with since I was seven years old.

"But professionally and personally, that was the right thing to do.

"And there is also the doping thing, all within this period.

"Personal issues, too.

"I'm really just looking forward to being back on the court and the tour and putting all of it behind me."

In a press release, Brooksby added: "The provisional suspension is not an admission that I have done anything wrong; to the contrary, I have denied this charge and am waiting for an arbitration with an independent tribunal."

The statement added that "one of the alleged missed tests" happened in June 2022, two days before the start of an ATP tournament in the Netherlands, and Brooksby writes that he "was at the official tournament hotel where I said I would be, and in my hotel room, and the time that I had said I would be there."

Brooksby told AP: "It's frustrating.

"I'm looking forward to giving them all of the evidence."

"We knew all along that we would probably have to go to arbitration to get this dismissed," said Brooksby’s advisor, Amrit Narasimhan.

"Brooksby has not had a soda in five years....That's how clean this guy is."