Australian Open dark horse Viktor Troicki says nothing can compensate for the 12 months he was forced to sit out of tennis for refusing to take a drug test in 2013.

A one-time world No.12, Troicki looms as a player to avoid at Melbourne Park after capping his stirring comeback from exile with a crushing straight-sets victory over Mikhail Kukushkin in the final of the Sydney International.

His second career title will propel the Serb back into the top 70 after he plummeted to 847th in the rankings before his return last July.

“I’m very happy. There’s a lot of emotions actually. It’s been a tough road, a lot of work, and it paid off with a nice title,” Troicki said ahead of his first-round Open clash on Monday against Czech Jiri Vesely.

“If I look back where I was like five, six months ago, it’s amazing to have a title already.”

The 28-year-old admits he returned to the tour doubly motivated after serving his 12-month ban, which had been reduced from 18 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

But he maintains his innocence, insisting he was sick on the day of being asked to provide a blood sample and was advised it’d be OK if he took the test the following day.

Now Troicki is eager to make up for lost time and maintains that, regardless of what else he achieves with his “second chance”, his time on the outer was anything but a positive.

“Because I know that I didn’t do anything wrong,” Troicki said.

“It’s very painful when you know you’re innocent and they punish you for something that you know you didn’t do anything wrong.

“That hurts a lot, and I will never forget that.

“I mean, they went after my career and they wanted to ruin it on the court.

“It’s been very tough.”