It was not cocaine that found its way into anyone’s system this time, nor was it crystal methamphetamine. The offence for which two grand-slam semi-finalists from Belgium have had their tennis careers interrupted for a year is that they forgot to do their doping paperwork.

Yanina Wickmayer, who reached the last four at the US Open in September and is considered one of the brightest stars on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, and Xavier Malisse, who was one match away from the Wimbledon final in 2002, have each been banned for a year under the strictest interpretation of Wada’s Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS) rule.

Wickmayer and Malisse have registered home addresses in Flanders, where zero tolerance to doping abuse is legendary, and the pair have only one recourse to appeal, to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) in Switzerland. Until they do this they are not allowed to compete on their respective tours.

It is the first known implementation in tennis of Wada’s “three strikes and you’re out” policy — and provides a stark lesson to all others in the sport.

The ADAMS system is a web-based database into which athletes are supposed to provide their whereabouts on a daily basis, to help the anti-doping organisations to set up their tests, so laboratories can report results and keep up-to-date records. Several leading players, notably Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray have railed against the system’s severity. “It’s not fair to have persecution like that,” Nadal said this year. “They make you feel like a criminal. Not even my mother knows where I am every day.”

Wickmayer, the 19-year-old world No 18, was flying home yesterday in a state of distress from Bali, where she was competing in the Commonwealth Bank tournament of champions, the year’s final tour event. “She is devastated,” her management company said.

Malisse claims that he does not have enough money to appeal the ruling. "A procedure before Cas is very costly and lasts a very long time," he said. "I currently don't have the financial means to take on such a battle. I still don't know what I'm going to do, but if the suspension is maintained that means the end of my career."

Wickmayer and Malisse have home addresses in Belgium and have to complete two sets of forms, one for Wada and the other for the Flemish equivalent. Malisse, who spends most of his year living in the United States, had played in an ATP Challenger event in Florida the week before this year’s French Open, but instead of returning to Europe — as he had told the authorities he would — he flew to California and when the testers arrived on the doorstep of his home to be greeted by his parents, it was marked down a failed test.

It is believed that he had failed to respond to the first two letters from the Flemish Doping Tribunal and was therefore deemed to have missed three tests.