Nadal supports Gasquet in drug ban dispute

Six-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal supports Richard Gasquet's comeback after the Frenchman's disputed positive doping test for cocaine, even though the Spaniard might dump him from the US Open.

Third seed Nadal is set to face Gasquet in the first round of the year's final Grand Slam event, which begins on Monday on the Flushing Meadows hardcourts.

It will be the first Slam for Gasquet since he was sidelined more than two months. He returned last week at New Haven but was ousted in qualifying.

"I support him a lot," Nadal said. "First thing, because I believe in him. Second thing, because I think he's a very nice guy. I've known him since I was 12 or 13 years old.

"I talked with him about what happenned. He told me he didn't take anything. So I believe him 100 per cent."

Gasquet (23) tested positive for cocaine during the Miami Masters in March and in May was banned for two-and-a-half months, forcing him to miss the French Open and Wimbledon.

The French player claimed he had picked up traces of the drug when he kissed a girl in a Miami night club.

In July, an independent tribunal allowed him to resume his career, making the ban retroactive and finding "no significant fault or negligence" by Gasquet.

The International Tennis Federation said it had appealed that decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but for now Gasquet has his tour status.

Nadal said that players are vulnerable to being tainted with drugs by others even with an anti-doping system.

"The anti-doping, I don't want to speak a lot about that, but it's not 100 per cent perfect sometimes," Nadal said. "If someone wants to kill you, somebody can kill you. And you didn't do anything.

"That's my feeling on what happened with Richard. And of course they say that no, he won (the appeal). In the beginning, it was three years. So I'm very happy for that and I am sure a lot of players are very happy for Richard."