Tennis

[Benotti69]

I hope USADA goes after tennis next and before the Williams sisters retire. They turn up for major tournments pumped after playing very little tennis since the last one and more than not reach the finals.

 

[Anonymous]

However there has to left benefit of the doubt that maybe Williams sisters are somewhat like Caster Semenya.

How often is gender verification test done on female athletes? I know that it is not routinely done, but who speaks out the doubt and asks for the test?(Was it USA in case of Caster Semenya?)

 

[Bicycle]

Don't think the Williams' girls are anything like Semenya - she has all the benefits of being doped to the eyeballs without ever touching any meds

 

[zebedee]

I've not heard anything specifically related to Ivanisevic doping nor about a culture of cheating within Croatian tennis circles generally. Big Goran lived off his massive lefty serve which just about every competitor on the ATP tour feared. He was also an incredibly idiosyncratic player and never really showed the consistency in his results that might throw out a suggestion of doping but I would never say he never did. There's just too much history of organised, state-sponsored doping within Eastern Europe sports generally and a culture once ingrained is naturally hard to eradicate, particularly when tennis represents such a life opportunity to pull yourself away from an otherwise bleak and mundane future.

The problem with tennis anti-doping lies with the attitude of the regulators themselves. I don't believe there is a quasi-conspiracy as exists within pro-cycling where the sport is regulated by ex-dopers or those who knew all about it and tolerated it. However, I do believe the ITF is lax in the way it goes about anti-doping. Time and again, the revelations from other sports show that in-competition testing is next to useless. The Balco saga alone tells us that. The ITF need to take a proactive multi-faceted approach to investigation and evidence-gathering based on use of bio-passports, emphasis on OOC testing during periods where 'glowtime' is greatest and for longer periods as well as freezing of blood samples for future analysis. Plus of course strong sanctions against those that are caught including retrospective loss of tournament titles and prize money.

 

[The Hitch]

lol theyve been friends ever since nadal heard bertie tested positive. Last year they went to the bernabau with david bisbal

 

[Bicycle]

Does anyone believe what they're seeing anymore? Four hours plus of tennis and these guys can't hit through each other, retrieving the ball from one corner to the other getting absolutely everything back.

 

[Paco_P]

Spanish doctors don't really get busted by the authorities there because no political will exists to bust their national sporting heroes who are doping, Davis Cup winners all. What happened after the Fuentes scandal? Nothing much. No national enquiry that I know of. Nor any general consensus for a clean up.

In fairness to the Spanish sporting authorities, this attitude is not peculiar to sports. There is also no political will to bust corrupt bankers who owe 300 million in back taxes on the billions they have secretly in Swiss accounts (Botin, president of Banco Santader), politicians who requalify land and sell permits to redevelop it etc. (all government figures in Valencia), and thieving, embezzling members of the royal family (Urdangarin, son-in-law of the king of Spain), just to pick a few examples. The only difference is that the public doesn't give a damn about doping by sports figures, but it does care about corrupt bankers and royals. On the other hand, nothing gets done about any of it.

 

[zebedee]

http://espn.go.com/olympics/story/_/id/7573907/spain-doping-problem-nation-sports-minister-says

No need to be fair to the Spanish authorities. They have an acknowledged problem in sports doping and need to show more resolve to deal with it - at governmental level, particularly if they want to have a chance of landing the Olympics. The Contador case shows how feeble they are.

No national sporting body should really be testing its athletes or running investigations into doping cases. Its really not their main focus and they lack the resources to do the job properly. The effort has to be run through government-backed anti-doping agencies that concentrate on the doping job 100% and have the clout to call in law enforcement and other agencies as required.

The ITF cannot do this job in tennis. Anti-doping isn't their thing and they're not effective at it. It has to go out to these specialist multi-disciplinary, full-on anti-doping agencies who do nothing but. They can take a proactive, investigatory approach as well as actually run the doping controls which the sporting bodies simply can't do. They could test for doping in tennis, cycling or whatever and coordinate the effort across all sports. The Lance Armstrong saga shows how at present athletes can simply take the p.ss - he certainly thought he could before USADA got on his case. The latter are currently showing the best practice as a model that other national anti-doping bodies need to follow.

I don't think doping in tennis is nearly as bad as in cycling but it does happen and at elite levels.

 

[avanti]

I hope USADA goes after tennis next and before the Williams sisters retire. They turn up for major tournments pumped after playing very little tennis since the last one and more than not reach the finals.

I work at a major tennis tournament in California and some of the players were tested for drugs in each of the last two events. As I recall it was UCLA people who did the testing.

 

[sniper]

I work at a major tennis tournament in California and some of the players were tested for drugs in each of the last two events. As I recall it was UCLA people who did the testing.

you mean the usual urine testing in search of traces of marihuana, coke, and other recreational drugs?

 

[sniper]

I sure hope that Goran Ivanisevic didn't dope. Does anyone know anything about that?

Goran didn't look like the typical doper to me. Except for his service, he wasn't a hardhitter and wasn't very musculous. And he wasn't outrunning his opponents either.
He did have a late-carreer revival winning wimbledon in a legendary 5 sets against Pat Rafter in 2001. I assume he was on the juice at least in those sunny autumn days of his carreer.

Ivan Lendl, now there is a guy who was outrunning and outpowering his opponents. Relatively little skill, but exceptional endurance and powerful baseline strokes. Interesting to see how Murray has upped his game and winning quota since he started working with Ivan.

 

[LauraLyn]

you mean the usual urine testing in search of traces of marihuana, coke, and other recreational drugs?

What interests the public more? Athletes caught using "recreational drugs" or athletes caught using "performance enhancing drugs?"

I think the former. The public also finds the use of recreational drugs far more reprehensible than the use of PEDs by athletes.

Is this not strange? Doesn't it suggest that there is a wide level of tolerance among the general public for the use of PEDs in sports.

 

[LauraLyn]

Interesting to see how Murray has upped his game and winning quota since he started working with Ivan.

Interesting to see how Murray upped his game since the Olympics became a priority for the Queen to save a desperate economy.

I think some athletes and teams in the UK got the very best training and medicine on offer in the UK.

[I can't remember Murray ever playing five sets and looking like he did yesterday.]

 

[workingclasshero]

The public also finds the use of recreational drugs far more reprehensible than the use of PEDs by athletes.

what planet are you on? or rather, what country are you in/from?

 

[Pulpstar]

You what ? Use of PEDs is far worse than recreational drugs for athletes. I mean how could Phelps' bongs possibly help him swim quicker in the pool Now take Ben Johnson in the 88 finals, sure most of them were juiced in that final but he was a chemically enhanced monster of a sprinter.

Theres also a middle ground of drugs - meth spring to mind that can be performance enhancing but are more likely to be used recreationally. And possibly coke, - it could theoretically enhance performance but I doubt anyone taking it will be taking it as part of a Fuente/Ferrari doping program at the time.

For cycling, EPO is the grand-daddy of all performance enhancers - nothing else really comes close.

I'd say it is definitely the latter, Lauralyn.

 

[Bicycle]

Journalists love to dwell on the cocaine "scandals" like Hingis and Gasquet. It fits into the general media obsession with celebrity tittle-tattle and also gives the impression that the authorities are doing something about "drugs" in sport. But in reality noone cares about this it's the cheats that are the major issue.

 

[sheenyp]

According to their website, so far in 2012 USADA have carried out 14 tests in Tennis (all out of competition).

That compares with cycling 544, Swimming 544, Track and Field 1564, Paralympic Volleyball 16, Curling 15 and Cheerleading 10!

 

[sniper]

Interesting to see how Murray upped his game since the Olympics became a priority for the Queen to save a desperate economy.

I think some athletes and teams in the UK got the very best training and medicine on offer in the UK.

[I can't remember Murray ever playing five sets and looking like he did yesterday.]

good points. i tend to agree.

According to their website, so far in 2012 USADA have carried out 14 tests in Tennis (all out of competition).

That compares with cycling 544, Swimming 544, Track and Field 1564, Paralympic Volleyball 16, Curling 15 and Cheerleading 10!

nice revealing stats. goodness me.
who within USADA decides where, what and whom to test?
it is a mystery to me why the number of tests is not proportional to the prizemoney. If it were, tennis players would evidently be among the most tested athletes.

 

[zebedee]

I seem to remember **** Fosbury, he of the high jump, once claiming -years later of course - that he broke the world record when coked out.

The tennis public still like to believe in the sort of fairytales that cyclists once did.

 

[LauraLyn]

According to their website, so far in 2012 USADA have carried out 14 tests in Tennis (all out of competition).

That compares with cycling 544, Swimming 544, Track and Field 1564, Paralympic Volleyball 16, Curling 15 and Cheerleading 10!

Is that all for curling? Now there's a sport that had me worried about doping for years.

 

[Thasp Blog]

I work at a major tennis tournament in California and some of the players were tested for drugs in each of the last two events. As I recall it was UCLA people who did the testing.

Can you recall which rounds the testing took place? Having looked at the ITF's anti-doping statistics for 2009 (when the ITF still posted testing statistics by tournament), doping control for non-Grand Slam events typically stopped 4 days before the end of the tournament (i.e., on average, no doping controls were conducted for the quarterfinals onwards.): http://tennishasasteroidproblem.blogspot.ca/2012/01/dont-look-now_23.html

Also, a huge weakness in the ITF's doping controls is the out-of-competition testing. In 2011, the ITF only conducted 216 out of competition tests (195 urine; only 21 blood): http://www.itftennis.com/antidoping/news/statistics.asp

The ITF's International Registered Testing Pool includes (but is not limited to) the ATP top 50, WTA top 50, top 10 doubles players and top 5 men, women and quad wheelchair players. That's about 150 players, which means the ITF is conducting less than 2 out-of-competition tests per year per IRTP player.

 

[sniper]

Can you recall which rounds the testing took place? Having looked at the ITF's anti-doping statistics for 2009 (when the ITF still posted testing statistics by tournament), doping control for non-Grand Slam events typically stopped 4 days before the end of the tournament (i.e., on average, no doping controls were conducted for the quarterfinals onwards.): http://tennishasasteroidproblem.blogspot.ca/2012/01/dont-look-now_23.html

Also, a huge weakness in the ITF's doping controls is the out-of-competition testing. In 2011, the ITF only conducted 216 out of competition tests (195 urine; only 21 blood): http://www.itftennis.com/antidoping/news/statistics.asp

The ITF's International Registered Testing Pool includes (but is not limited to) the ATP top 50, WTA top 50, top 10 doubles players and top 5 men, women and quad wheelchair players. That's about 150 players, which means the ITF is conducting less than 2 out-of-competition tests per year per IRTP player.

it's remarkable not a single tennis player has ever tested positive for EPO.
do they test for EPO at all?

 

[Thasp Blog]

it's remarkable not a single tennis player has ever tested positive for EPO.
do they test for EPO at all?

They do, but they stopped reporting on EPO test statistics after 2009, so I don't know how many they currently conduct. However, after 2006 they decreased EPO testing dramatically, although they really weren't testing that often anyways.

See: http://tennishasasteroidproblem.blogspot.ca/2012/02/whos-king-of-epo.html

And: http://tennishasasteroidproblem.blogspot.ca/2012/02/epo-testing-revisited-2006-09-part.html

 

[babastooey]

I've always wondered about Amelie Mauresmo, her big forehead, and her man-shoulders. I always thought she could win a Fabio lookalike contest.

 

[frenchfry]

I've always wondered about Amelie Mauresmo, her big forehead, and her man-shoulders. I always thought she could win a Fabio lookalike contest.

Amélie is a spokesperson for the Institut Curie, a leading cancer hospital. They maybe should have chosen someone else with a cleaner image - like Jeannie Longo for example.