Cocaine appears to be the least of it...

Martina Hingis: Former world number one and "retired" after testing positive for cocaine:

When you get a great money shot like this one, it just makes it too easy. I imagine Hingis was just using cocaine for recreational purposes and got caught with a dirty urine. As this picture shows, she looks 'roided up. By the way, is it possible that she actually tested positive for something else and just says it's cocaine? I'll try to check into that.

Is this guy on steroids?

Just having some fun with the people who think that it's all speculation.  This is Petr Korda.  1998 was a very good year for Petr.  He won the Australian Open, he was runner-up at the French Open and a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon.  Wow, he really "came on strong" that year.  You could say that he "came out of nowhere", since he hadn't done much since 1993.  So what made the difference for Petr Korda.  Was he on 'roids?   

Well, yes, he was.  He tested positive for Nandralone at Wimbledon.    He's skinny, so it's not obvious, but this is all the proof you need that steroids can make you a Grand Slam winner.  After a slap-on-the-wrist ban that is not likely to deter anyone, he is back playing tennis.

If Drug Testing Won't Catch Them - What to do?

I am learning a little something new each day about the performance enhancing drug scene in athletics.  It appears to be rampant, at this point.  And some of these drugs are not detectable.  So even if all the loopholes are closed in the testing, they can still get around it.  I think that these athletes are confident that they aren't going to be beaten by drug tests.  So how do you catch them?

In my opinion, you have to catch them not by what you detect in their system, but catching their supplier.  Find the dealer and make him talk.  This is largely how things have come to light in baseball.  Somewhere, someone is making these drugs and selling them on a black market to dealers, who then get them to athletes or their surrogates.  This really requires the involvement of law enforcement.  An FBI sting is probably the only real way to catch them.  

I'm sure stringent testing will occasionally catch desperate  players, but the ones on the top didn't get there by being stupid.  

HGH and IGF-1

Okay, after finding out about the new drug testing and the arrogance of Roddick in the article, I figured they must be using something that is just not detectable by drug testing.  As it turns out, HGH - Human Growth Hormone is not detectable by a urine test.  In the last Olympics, they came up with a blood test that supposedly can detect it, but didn't catch anyone on it.  Despite its benefits, it probably doesn't match up to standard testosterone derivatives for performance enhancement.  The new drug testing also involves blood tests, so that could theoretically be checked.  So I am doubting that HGH is the drug they are using.  

HOWEVER, one of the the metablolites of HGH is a substance called IGF-1 (I believe that is insulin-like growth factor).  This is the primary builder of muscle.  This is injected right into the muscle and apparently cannot be detected except by muscle biopsy (taking a little piece of the muscle), which will never be done, I think.  It is only available for experimental medical studies at the moment, but I'm guessing that there is already a black market for it.  

Basically, there is probably something out there that builds muscle and apparently the gains from it are fairly long-lasting.  I am thinking this is my prime suspect.   It's also likely very expensive, so some of the lower level players might have difficulty getting it.  This is likely to create a two-tier tennis world of players who will have to take a chance on regular steroids vs. those who can get the more expensive, undetectable varieties.

Syringe Man...

"Ha ha - you got me this time, Lance Armstrong, but I'll be back"

-Syringe Man

The Plot Thickens...

So, according to this story, they are observed when tested in their homes.  I have to eat some crow on that.
I am reading through this story to figure out loopholes.  One is that a player gets up to 3 test blow-offs before they are suspended.  I'm not sure how often they are tested each year, and I don't think that there is public access to who has missed tests, but that still makes it tricky for them.  I believe this has just been instituted in tennis, so it's still early, but it would seem to me that if it is instituted in the way it is described in the story, then they will have a hard time beating it.  The only real way to beat it for any length of time would be to have a steroid or HGH that is not detected by their tests.  The only other possibility I can think of is that the steroids are short enough acting that they would be out of your system with 12 hours or so.  I don't know if such 'roids exist, but they have a specific time they come to check for each player (eg. between 6 and 7 in the morning), so if a player took something shortly after that time and it was going to wash out before 6 the next morning they would be safe.  That seems a bit risky to me.   

If they have an undetectable steroid, I hope that these drug testers have enough sense to freeze specimens for the future when testing is available.  Can I be mistaken?  I doubt it.  All I need to do is look at pictures of some of the players and I can see that they are on steroids, so somehow they are beating the tests.  The real question is how.  If this testing is just beginning, perhaps we will start seeing players caught soon.

How to Beat a Steroid Test

So I think I'm getting a good handle on how athletes beat steroid drug tests. It's quite simple really. First, they take steroids that are in and out of their system quickly. Here is some information available on the internet:

Passing a Steroid Drug Test

On top of having several anabolic steroid metabolites to test for--some of which, such as trenbolone, are not tested for--a drug test must also consider the issue of educated athletes, which is a kind term for educated drug users who know how to pass a steroid drug test. How do they do it? Simple. They avoid long lasting steroids in favor for orals, such as Anadrol, Anavar or Dianabol, which are usually in and out of the body completely within 24 hours. Then, by adding in the use of quick acting injectables, such as testosterone suspension (a water-based steroid) used daily with a half-life of a day, they've conceived a highly effective anabolic steroid stack without risk of failing a steroid drug test. If the drug test is not pre-announced, and most are, then there is a chance they may not have a prayer to pass a steroid drug test. Once steroids are in ones system, there aren't many alternatives available for internal consumption to speed the drug detox or mask the metabolites.

Pass Steroid Drug Test Info

For a person to pass a steroid drug test, they reportedly must either cease steroid use for up to two weeks prior to the drug test; use designer drug steroid preparations that are not tested for; use other hormones such as growth hormone; or use a carefully designed stack of fast acting steroids. Of course, the only tried and true method to pass a steroid drug test is abstinence. If a person is taking steroids, then it is a probable hypothesis that the average steroid user will have difficulty passing a steroid drug test, but then again, few businesses drug test for steroids. Thus, having to pass a steroid drug test is not a concern.

To get the stuff out of their body even quicker, they use a cleanse like this one - also available on the internet.


STEROID CLEANSE is for REAL! DynamicSportsNutrition, Inc. would like to introduce you to our NEW ground breaking product called Steroid Cleanse! Steroid Cleanse has the ability to completely remove most unwanted anabolic steroids from your body in just 5 DAYS!!!

Here's what a guy who did it for football players recommended:

Jacobs, who said he stopped using steroids in April 2007, said he also advised players to use steroids only in the off-season.
“The players know the testing is tougher in-season, so they use human growth hormone year round and only use steroids in the off-season,” he said.
The N.F.L. tests its players year round for steroids but does not test players for H.G.H. Of the 12,000 tests the league performs, 4,000 are in the off-season.
Jacobs said he suggested that players say they were out of town or on vacation with their wives when they received phone calls about pending drug tests.
He also said he would then provide the player with an herbal supplement intended to cleanse the system of steroids without being detected.
“A week later, they would be tested and they would pass,” Jacobs said.

Now we see the importance of skipping tournaments. They have to stop the steroids at least two weeks before a tournament. By that time they can pass the drug test at the tournament. Then, they fake an injury to stay out of tournaments for awhile until they juice back up. The advantage here is that even if they test you at home, you can just go into your own bathroom (assuming Venus Williams is correct in saying that they just "hand you a cup") and pull out some drug free pee you have stored there and give that to the tester. Home testing is not going to compare to tournament testing. Then, when a big tournament comes up, you stop the 'roids a couple weeks in advance and jump in. It really isn't even complicated.

I am now officially banned by ESPN and Peter Bodo

I attempted to post on ESPN's website and I am apparently banned. Now, anyone that has seen the comments on their stories knows that people say very nasty things about players and about other posters, yet they choose to ban me. All I do is post about the steroid scandal in professional tennis. ESPN is making a mockery of their website. They have been on their high horses about the baseball steroid scandal for much of the last year. They put the smackdown on A-Rod just yesterday. They are now proving that they are nothing but sanctimonious poseurs. They didn't say a word about steroids in baseball until after the scandal broke. Do you think that they didn't know that Barry Bonds was doing 'roids? Their strategy appears to be to wait until a scandal breaks, then scold all those involved - players, coaches, and the professional organizations that turned a blind eye. Well, I'm calling you out ESPN. You can't tell me that you believe the top tennis players aren't juiced up. So do something about it!

I also have this to say about Peter Bodo, who has also apparently banned me from commenting on his tennis blog: "Don't bother to discuss a political issue like the Peer case, when your political knowledge is next to non-existent - then ban me for even mentioning the steroid scandal in tennis." Did you get that message, Peter Bodo? If not, let me say this: "Do some real investigative journalism and figure out how these players are able to remain juiced up." Did you hear me yet, Peter Bodo?

I have written ESPN and asked for reinstatement. However, I do not apologize for my posts. Get your head out of the sand ESPN!

UPDATE: I have been reinstated on both sites. I appreciate that this is a sensitive subject and that they are allowing me to continue posting. One of the reasons that I created this website was to highlight the problems without having to explain myself over and over again in blog and comment posts. Now I just put up an occasional link along with a brief point in the comments section.

Would Steroids Really Help a Tennis Player?

(Added 7/19):  It should be pointed out that this is not even in question.  Petr Korda's tennis career took off when he used steroids.  He won the Australian Open and made the Quarterfinals of Wimbledon, when he was found to be positive.  16 year old Sesil Karatantcheva came out of nowhere and managed to beat Venus Williams at Roland Garros, then tested positive for steroids.  There can be no doubt that steroids will help a tennis player, male or female to perform well beyond what they could do without steroids.

Nevertheless, the argument that steroids won't help a tennis player has been put out there on several occasions. The general argument is that tennis is a game of hand-eye coordination, strategy and placement, none of which would be helped by steroids. The other point is that there is no direct correlation between a muscular player and the power of their serve, so bigger muscles wouldn't even help the serve.

In actuality, steroids help in the following ways:
Strength and Power: Powerlifters add easily 20 -30% more to their lifts on steroids. (You can check this by comparing the drug-free powerlifting records to the "untested"). That makes for a significant amount of power to your tennis game.
Speed - Track and Field athletes are probably 5% faster on steroids (I'm talking about the difference between a 10.0 and 9.5 second hundred yard dash).
Endurance - I won't put a number to it, but clearly if Tour bicyclists are using steroids, it is helping them with endurance. Otherwise any gains in strength would be negated by the long distance of the events.
Longevity - Baseball players were suddenly able to compete at a high level even into their 40's.

So, on steroids, you are going to get and athlete that is stronger, faster and has better endurance. All the top athletes have great hand-eye coordination, great placement and strategy. While there may be a difference between one player and another - enough of a difference to win most times, all things equal -that will be easily overcome if you are faster, stronger and have more endurance than your drug-free opponent. It's simply no contest.

Let me also address the service issue. While it's true that the service motion is not just a display of strength and there is much more to serving a tennis ball than raw power, that doesn't negate steroids as an aid to a serve. Just as steroids are going to help a baseball pitcher (just ask Roger Clemmons - I dare you), they will help a server. The motions are similar. Your medium quality server will become a good server. Your good server will become a great server.

Now, is there a disadvantage to steroid use for a tennis player? There is one disadvantage, as I see it: The increase in bulk. The 'roided up player is carrying around a extra weight. However, this appears to be offset by the strength, speed and endurance gained. This might be why we are suddenly seeing very large players able to compete on a tennis court, players like Serena, Kanepi or Bartoli on the women's side. You would not have seen a women with a physique like Marion Bartoli winning major tennis events in the past. In my opinion, it could be that performance enhancing drugs allow someone of that size to maintain a peak game for 3 sets of tennis.

In short - YES - Steroids are going to help a great deal.

Update: I now see some are suggesting that steroids even help hand-eye coordination.

Navratilova: The Original Steroid Goddess?

I could have picked a thousand pics of Martina. I think that she is really the one that got the steroid ball rolling.

Yes Virginie, there is a Santa Claus

and he might have put some steroids in your stocking.



Okay, there are a few possible tell-tale signs. The deltoid, definition with the split look to the left deltoid is impressive. Also, some left bicep vein action.

Andy Steroddick?

Nalbandrogen?

Again, with the men it's not as obvious, but this guy is easily carrying around 20 - 25 pounds of extra muscle. This would make for a significant endurance issue (one I certainly noticed trying to lug around a bigger frame from weightlifting). The idea that this disadvantage would be made up for by the increase in power, doesn't hold. The reason - these guys can play 5 sets and are no more winded than the thin competitors of yesterday's tennis. Steroids would give them increased endurance which makes up for the extra energy needed to carry around this muscle mass. So they would get the best of both worlds - more power and more endurance. This makes me wonder whether this guy is using a performance enhancing drug.

Complicity of Tennis Officials?

Okay, if it's obvious to me that the players are on steroids, it certainly must be obvious to tennis officials.  Notwithstanding the fact that they have finally instituted some tougher standards, they have really been ignoring this problem for years.  The reason, I think, is obvious:  Money.  Tennis is big money and right now, most of the top players are on steroids.  Real drug testing would absolutely decimate the ranks of professional tennis.  Suddenly, players you have never heard of will be winning Grand Slams, while all of the name players will either be banned, faking injuries, retired or acting as if their inability to make the quarterfinals in any major tournament has nothing to do with the fact that they stopped using 'roids (Kind of like Marion Jones' "comeback").  By turning a blind eye, tennis officials have created an absolute monster.  Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake, here.  It's hard to imagine the pressure they are under at the moment.  The only thing that might force the issues is if enough of the players not on steroids begin to complain.  But who are the players not on steroids?  I don't think that there are very many.

This is why it will be all the more satisfying to take down the entire facade with a blog I made in a matter of minutes. 

If it looks like a Dulko on steroids....

And plays tennis like a Dulko on steroids - then perhaps it's a Dulko on steroids. She is not as obvious as some, but like most of the more subtle possible steroid enhanced tennis players, the two handed backhand is the best evidence - the money shot, if you will.

Hey - What's with that neck?

The possible steroid enhancement in the right shoulder and bicep is apparent to even the casual observer. What's up with that neck, though? Unless she is 110 years old, there is something very weird going on there.

Update 6/1/09: Thanks to reader for noting misattribution of this player (originally said it was Gallovits, but was Shaughnessy, whom she was playing. The caption of the image was unclear)

Bartoli's Got Guns

Bartoli might sneak under the radar because she has the size but the definition is not obvious. Looking here, though, you can see that she is thick-muscled:

Reference Flashback: Chris Evert

Venus di Muscle

Finally, I get to that other Williams sister. What about Venus? Why isn't she on steroids if Serena is? These two questions I hear all the time as people describe her as some sort of waif. Look at the picture below - she is VERY muscular:






Venus is only small in comparison to her sister. I believe she, like all the top women players, is probably on the juice.

My Zvona

Looking pretty likely, but maybe not as obvious as some:

Jankin' my chain till it breaks in half

Sadly, she is one of the less obvious ones. People really need to get their heads out of the sand.

Cementieva...

Left delt, tricep, bicep - impressive. Vein on right deltoid another 'roid "tell". Also square jawed.

Old Timer Reference

And, yes, I know Mac did the 'roids later in his comeback attempt.



Could he have even beaten the Serena Williams of today?

"Mucho" Dinara

Tsonga - Au "not so" Natural

Roger?

Is Federer on steroids? I have always doubted it, just based on his more tennis-typical, physique:



He also came out in favor of the new drug testing. The only thing that makes me wonder is his recent phantom "back injury." Is he avoiding testing? In his case maybe it's something other than steroids. In any case, he looks like a boy among men, so if he is in fact drug-free, he has accomplished something amazing against juiced-up athletes.

Kaia Kanepi

I put Kaia here as a contrast to Mauresmo:



She has a larger frame, more like Serena. I would also put Marion Bartoli in this category. Note again the squaring of the jaw, giving her a rather masculine appearance. Now, we never had women this big competing in tennis in the pre-steroid age. With steroids, however, they could not only build more muscle mass than their smaller competitors, but they could then use this to carry their heavier frames around. Steroids also help with endurance, overcoming the usual deal-breaking obstacle for a larger woman to compete. Is this the key to Kaia's success.  In my opinion, it is.  Is this an example of the new face (or body) of women's tennis?

Mauresmo

Okay, this is a more subtle case compared to Serena, but still quite obvious in my opinion. Here is a picture of Mauresmo:



Her triceps, biceps and shoulders are all abnormally large and defined. Also notice another tell-tale sign of steroid use in women - the squared, masculinized jaw. I think it flies under the radar because she is still nowhere near as big as Serena. So the question is, "Why is she not as big as Serena if they are both using steroids?" I think that there are a few reasons. One is the standard Ectomorph/Endomorph/MesoMorph body type. Serena is physically bigger in frame. Another, I think, is a matter of strategy. I believe that Serena has decided to go full on with the steroids, for maximum power. I suspect some of the other women (including Venus), use less 'roids to balance size with endurance. The bottom line is that when Serena plays her best game - her power almost always wins out. In any case, you aren't going to beat Serena unless you are on performance enhancing drugs.

But Aren't they tested Regularly?

Another argument that people use is that tennis players receive regular drug tests and therefore could not be on steroids. This is a spurious argument for any number of reasons, not the least being that there was supposedly extensive testing in track and field and cycling and people were making the same arguments for Marion Jones. The simple fact is that the tests are generally easy to beat. If you are handed a cup and asked to go into the bathroom and pee in it, no one knows exactly what you are doing in there. It would be simple enough to have a ready supply of drug free urine (your own or someone else's) and you could fill the cup with that. Of course you are going to test negative. They also do not test every athlete at every tournament (if anyone has different information - please put it forward). This brings me to a theory I have about tennis players like Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal dropping out of tournaments with phantom injuries. I am guessing that they know which tournaments they will be tested at and deliberately skip them. They are probably then required to take a test at home (yeah, big deal). This way, they can avoid the heavier scrutiny of onsite drug testing. There are certainly other possibilities - they can stop the steroids long enough before a match to get by the test. This would also explain why they skip tournaments. They might also have found an undetectable steroid such as happened with the baseball and track and field scandal. I think this is less likely, only because I don't believe that they would miss so many tournaments. If anyone has access to the actual testing protocols, I would appreciate it. I think that if we had those, it would be possible to figure out exactly what players are doing to beat the tests.
In any case, there is a larger point to be made. Tennis has just recently instituted more stringent testing.* The first ones to complain about it were Serena and Nadal. No surprise there. This apparently involves giving one day notice before coming to a player's home. Again, this is still not sufficient if they just hand them the cup and let them go into their own bathroom alone. I ask you, though: If there was no problem with performance enhancing drugs in tennis then why did they just start doing more stringent tests? Obvioiusly, I am not the only one who suspects that there is a problem. It would seem likely that if there are any non-steroid users on the tour, they are going to complain. Is this why Federer is losing to Nadal? Federer is one of the few players that doesn't give even a whiff of being on steroids, at least by physical appearance. I am not naive, but if he is actually not using steroids, his tennis feats will one day be recognized as superhuman.

*This story by Bonnie Ford makes mention of the new drug testing policies in tennis:

Weight Training for the Modern Tennis Player

The argument is being made that current tennis players, unlike those of the past, are doing a lot of weight training and use this to explain the sudden change in the physique of your average tennis player. (If anyone has access to a specific weight training workout of any "suspect" top player - please bring it on). Let's take a look at something. Below is a picture of Rachel McLish, the world champion female body builder from the early 1980's (she was in a very interesting documentary called Pumping Iron II: The Women).


Now, it is widely felt that Rachel McLish is the last woman bodybuilder who did not use steroids. In fact, as soon as the beefed up steroid users came on the scene, she retired, stating she could not compete with them. So we can see pretty much the maximum amount of muscle that a woman is going to be able to build by spending most of her waking hours in the gym pumping iron. She has some good muscle definition all around, but you might find it surprising that she was the world champion.

Somehow, we are expected to believe that a woman who does a little weight training to enhance her tennis power could look like this:



Serena would not only win the pose down, World Champion Rachel McLish would be laughed off the stage. This shows to what extent we have been bombarded by images of steroid enhanced female athletes. A body like this seems to raise no eyebrows.  We have lost our sense of the natural body of a female athlete.

The Race Card

I have been called out as a racist for focusing on Serena (I will be addressing MANY other players as this blog progresses). The argument is also being made that African Americans are genetically often more muscular than whites and that Serena is just a genetic anomaly. This is being pointed out to me by African American and white posters alike. First of all, have any of you ever seen a woman of any race in your day to day life who is as big and muscular as Serena Williams. Secondly, before Serena and Venus, we actually had a few African American tennis champions. Both of these players played before the steroid era (I would call the steroid era - excluding the East Germans who got started much earlier - as 1985 or so until today).
Lets Look at Althea Gibson, an African American Wimbledon champion from the 1950's:




No one is going to accuse Althea Gibson of using steroids. She is exactly what you would expect of a female tennis player. Thin, and very fit, carrying around a minimum amount of body fat and building no significant muscle mass.

Let's now take a look at an African American male tennis champion for further comparison:



Here we can see that the genetics argument falls on its face. A male tennis player has more testosterone than any female tennis player (unless she is using 'roids). Do we see a hulking, body-builder type physique from an African American male tennis player? On the contrary, we see the same fit, svelte body in male form that we would expect to see.

Race Card case is now closed (and I'll be getting to many white players in a few posts, thanks).

Serena vs. the East German Swim Team

Some of you may be a little too young to remember this, but you have probably heard jokes about the East German Women's Swim team.  The muscularity of their female swimmers was so over the top, that people in the West were absolutely outraged that they could be so brazen as to load their swimmers up with steroids.  There was never really an argument against it.  It was always just assumed that they were on steroids.  So let's take a look at the star swimmer from the East German team in the '76 Olympics:

What can we see.  Sure she is fairly muscular, but somehow the automatic outrage that would have been elicited from that picture in 1976 is somehow not so strong.  Why?  Quite simply, we see women in sports who look like this all the time.  We have become accustomed to it.  Now, is there something in the water that is causing this?  No, there is a steroid problem.  So many female athletes are hopped on steroids, that our steroid shock detectors have been disabled.  Let's look, for example,  at this picture of Serena Williams in bathing suit:

Serena is bigger than Kornelia Enders.  Her shoulders are bigger, her thighs are bigger and she has more muscle definition.  For some reason, the same people who were outraged by the East German swimmer, are giving Serena Williams a pass.  It is obvious to the naked eye that Serena Williams has an extraordinarily unnatural muscle mass for a woman (maybe even for a man).  For someone who engages in hours of intense aerobic activity like tennis every day, this is even more unnatural.  The only rational explanation, in my opinion, is steroids.

Here's a side by side comparison:

The Purpose of This Blog

After the scandals of baseball, track and field and cycling, no one in charge took any responsibility - Not the athletes nor the "professionals" running each sport.  There is an obvious problem in tennis.  I first noticed this with women's tennis, but now see the same with many men.  Tennis players do not naturally build up large muscles.   I am going to make my case for the fact that steroids (or HGH) are running rampant in professional tennis.  Anyone who follows along the posts here and still believes that tennis does not have a steroid problem is kidding themselves.