I really wonder what has stalled Guillermo Coria's career more: his excruciating five-set loss to Gaston Gaudio in the 2004 French Open final (he held two match points) or the drug-related suspension that kept him off the men's tour for seven months.
Well, since he can't sue Gaudio, he sued Universal Nutriion, the New Jersey-based vitamin maker he blamed for the positive steroid test that cost him millions in earnings.
On Wednesday, the parties settled the suit for an undisclosed amount a day before Coria was set to testify. Coria had charged that a contaminated multivitamin not only kept him from competing for seven months in 2001 and 2002, but besmirched his reputation and cost him at least $10 million in prize money, bonuses, appearance fees and endorsements.
According to the Associated Press: Richard Grossman, a lawyer for New Brunswick-based Universal in central New Jersey, on Tuesday said the company is not to blame for any contamination. He told the jury Universal took care to prevent steroids from being mixed into batches of vitamins.
Coria, once ranked No. 3 in the world, did not speak to reporters as he left the courtroom. Lawyers for him and the company declined to give any details on the deal.
The judge said the parties agree with the finding of a tribunal of the ATP, the governing body of men's tennis, that the positive test was caused by "inadvertent and unknowing ingestion of a banned substance."
Coria hugged his lawyers, shook hands with Universal personnel, and the judge, who said, "Good luck to you."
Coria, 25, was out of tennis from August 2001 to March 2002. He reached his highest ranking, No. 3, in May 2004, the month of the French final. Clearly disheartened and plagued by injuries, Coria dropped out of the top 100 in 2006 and is currently ranked 347th by the ATP.