Tennis and Drugs
MONTREAL--Having Richard Gasquet first on Centre Court today at the Rogers Cup inevitably brings up stories of Gasquet's brief drug suspension, more newsworthy after American player Robert Kendrick was handed a one-year ban by the International Tennis Federation last month.
Gasquet's story is one of more than a few from the tennis world that strains credulity. He was suspended in 2009 after testing positive for cocaine, but he appealed and later had his suspension dropped after a two-and-a-half month period when the ITF accepted his explanation that he had ingested the substance after kissing a woman at a nightclub.
Honest.
These days, Gasquet, once rated the best junion in the world, is the third-ranked player in France and pushing back up the ATP rankings. He plays Germany's Florian Mayer today.
Kendrick, 31, was suspended late last month after testing positive for a banned stimulant at the French Open. He claimed the substance was in a capsule he took to combat jet lag and is appealing the suspension in hopes of having the suspension reduced. He's ranked 110th in the world. His best result this season was a quarter-final appearance at Memphis where he was beaten by Canada's Milos Raonic, who then went on to lose the final to Andy Roddick.
Earlier this month, American player Wayne Odesnik returned to the tour after a one-year ban for importing human growth hormone into Australia, which he admitted. The 25-year-old, born in South African, has ranked as high as 77th in the world.
Other tennis suspensions for drug use have been equally odd. Petr Korda was suspended for using steroids in 1998, which he claimed got into his body by eating too much veal. Martina Hingis, most famously, was banned for two years in 2008 when trace amounts of cocaine were detected in her system. She has never stopped proclaiming her innocence, and tests of her hair follicles found no evidence of cocaine.
Damien - this article is a good beginning but not nearly good enough, I applaud you for this much. It is well known to most tennis insiders that tennis is one of the dirtiest main stream sports around if not the dirtiest.
It is unfortunate that no one prominent in the sport has the guts to address the joke that this sport has become. From phantom injuries facilitating obvious PED cycling/priming, to gluten free diets explaining sudden and inhuman performance gains, it is getting worse and worse.
No one wants to face the consequences of having some of the biggest ATP golden geese exposed - it's sad.
I urge to do some research into this Damien and have the courage to put it on the map.
Posted by: zarfilg@rogers.com | August 09, 2011 at 09:37 PM
80% of players are on drugs.Is the ATP aware of that? Yes?Are the people around players aware of that?Yes!ATP is not going to do anything about drugs because same players are making fortune to ATP?ATP testing policy is joke.Players know what they are going to be tested for and when thay are going to be tested for.ATP is same joke like NHL!
Posted by: Braco | August 10, 2011 at 07:28 AM
Damien,
What point are you trying to make here? That the ITF anti-doping regime is broken? If so, I totally agree with you, but be brave enough to say what you mean.
Posted by: Rikyu Sen | August 10, 2011 at 06:30 PM
Damien,
One more point, do you care to comment on the fact that the ITF only releases information regarding positive doping tests when and if the player is found guilty. If the player fails a test and they are exonerated by the ITF, the public never finds out. What other sport does this? For sports like cycling and track, as soon as a player fails a test, the public is informed.
Posted by: Rikyu Sen | August 10, 2011 at 06:36 PM
I read and hear a lot of anonymous assertions that tennis is dirty and that such-and-such a player, etc., is using PEDs. If the ATP/ITF/WTA are hiding something, then it's the job of journalists to uncover such a scandal. Journalists aren't saying much about this. Perhaps there's nothing wrong?
I thought journalists loved a scandal?
Posted by: Mirkel | August 10, 2011 at 08:28 PM
Cmon Damien. Put these questions to the ITF (not just some low-level flunky either).
Why won't they release who is being tested, and who is missing tests for 2010 (they only release aggregate statistics)?
Why does the tennis authorities reserve the right to cover up positive tests, like they did with Agassi (it is the same non-transparent protocol today)?
Why did the top 50 players only get tested on average, ONCE out of competition in 2009?
Why did the ITF remove the explicit statistics for out of competition testing for 2009 from their servers?
Why won't the ITF tell us what they are testing for (HGH?, Plasticizers?, EPO?)?
Why do only low ranked players like Kendrick get outed ?
Posted by: Sea | August 16, 2011 at 01:05 AM