Indian Tennis Pro Discusses Drug Cheating

I hadn't seen this story from back in February of this year (Thanks Ashino):

Indian tennis pro Mahesh Bhupathi has given a whole new dimension to the ongoing debate surrounding anti-doping rules in the game. The experienced Indian has squarely blamed tennis players for compelling the authorities to adopt new stringent dope rules. Bhupathi pointed out that tennis players from all over the world have brought it upon themselves by repeatedly cheating.


“The tennis players themselves have brought it (anti-doping rules) upon themselves. A lot of players have been cheating. The players have to cooperate to weed out instances of cheating from sports,” Bhupathi told reporters here today.


Clearly, players who are not cheating and are angry about losing to juicers need to get together on this issue. If it becomes obvious that the beefed up players are against the drug testing rules and the less juiced players are in favor, it will highlight the problem. Unfortunately, since many of the top players are likely juicing and they are the ones most likely to be listened to on this subject, we have a bit of conundrum.

Serena fined $82,500 for possible 'roid rage episode

If this was a case of 'roid rage, I'm not sure an $82,500 fine from a tournament in which she won over $350,000 is going to serve as much of a deterrent.

A Player Comments on an experience with PED's

She was only on prednisone, which technically is in the steroid class, although it is not a muscle building drug. In any case, she felt it helped her game significantly and I pass her story along for the record, although I'm not familiar with prednisone being used as a performance enhancing drug. (Thanks Ashino)

Slow News Week

I got nothin' much, so here's a pic of Bammer for your consideration...

Why Tennis Officials Might Be Inclined to Look the Other Way

U.S. Tennis Association tax forms show that former CEO of professional tennis Arlen Kantarian received more than $9 million in total compensation in 2008, his last year running the U.S. Open.
According to documents obtained Monday by The Associated Press, Kantarian was paid about $1.6 million in base compensation, about $2.3 million in bonus and incentive compensation and nearly $5.2 million in other reportable compensation that year.

I have to admit that, for 9 million, I'd personally inject these players myself.

Wilander on Nadal

One wonders whether he thinks this through to its logical conclusion. (I think he probably does, but chooses not to say the obvious):

He's not playing any different to the way he used to, but he might not be quite as strong. He's lost some weight because of his knees maybe.

How is a tennis player going to lose weight by playing less tennis? When you lay off a cardiovascular sport like tennis, you are likely to gain weight. (Thanks for the link, Anonymous)

Udate with Pic:

I have actually been slow to embrace the "Nadal is getting smaller" meme, but I think this pic shows a smaller Nadal. He still has decent bicep definition, but his size is down. He never had much of a chest, but it looks even smaller. It is hard to tell with his new sleeved look, but I think it is hard to argue against the conclusion that he is smaller. Given that, and the recent Agassi revelation, I am giving more credence to the rumor that he got into some kind of drug testing trouble and has had to lay off the supplements. You have a player who has been complaining about drug testing, who mysteriously dropped out of a very important tournament, who is getting smaller for no apparent reason and who is losing more matches. Is there another conclusion?

Here's Baba's Retort (for those following the comments):

I'll say that his left bicep is still hanging in there, but I'm otherwise unimpressed. His right arm was always smaller, but looks downright wasted away in these recent pics, his shoulders seem like a regular guy's (I admit it's harder to tell with his current sleeved shirt style). Anyone else, feel free to chime in.

Evolution

Del Potro seems to be "progressing" a bit, particularly in the deltoid region (biceps still unimpressive), so I wouldn't want it to go unnoticed.

Update: I thought this pic was rather tame, but a commenter suggests it's photoshopped. It's not - got it right off a news feed.

From the "Could this be 'roid rage?" collection

I haven't really gone after Xavier Malisse, because I really wasn't all that familiar with him, he isn't that highly ranked and he doesn't look particularly juiced. Of course, that doesn't exclude the possibility of 'roids and a commenter (Thanks, Zephyr) sent a link to this episode that could be a little bit of 'roid rage. Of course, any player has his worst moment, but he is quite aggressive, so I post it for the record:


By the way, if anyone can find a clip of Wickmayer's episode in Clearwater earlier this year, I'd appreciate it.

Update: "Baba" links to an interesting incident with Malisse and makes a few other points in the comments.

ATP: Agassi Free and Clear

The ATP has, not surprisingly, decided not to pursue any kind of sanction against Agassi.

They also excuse themselves from keeping his positive test a secret:
"If we had revealed that test it would have been in contravention of the rules at the time," he said.

Now, is this true? There were players who tested positive both before and after Agassi and had their tests made public. Was there a brief change in the rules just for Andre or is this "contravention of the rules" bunk?

Another Soccer Player Dies

Mexican player dies of apparent "heart attack". This just keeps happening in Soccer, cycling and recently tennis. The story says that an autopsy is pending and hopefully they will investigate whether a PED is involved, but unless a specific drug is suspected and tested for (and I'm not sure they can pick it up even then if it's out of his system), we won't find out unless someone comes forward. While it is not unheard of for a top athlete to die in his prime ("Pistol" Pete Maravich comes to mind), this is happening way too often and I suspect that some of these deaths are due to EPO or EPO derivatives like CERA, which improve stamina, but can be quite risky.

Wickmayer Challenges Whereabouts Rule

So, she's tried the dog ate my homework route, she's tried the I didn't know I was supposed to report route and she's tried for just plain sympathy. Now she and her lawyer (and Malisse, who I guess I shouldn't ignore) have decided to go after the legality of the Whereabouts rule itself. This seems to me to be the kind of tactic a guilty party would most likely take. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I can't say I'm a legal expert, so I don't know if she can make a case, but if the rule gets squashed, we are going to see even more "pumped up" players.

Wickmayer Playing for Sympathy

Wickmayer is playing the victim.
So, to counter that, I will point out that she missed not one but 3 whereabouts tests, has altered her story, appears pumped up, has quickly moved up to number 16 in the world and one might wonder whether she had an episode of 'roid rage this year.

Safin Says Agassi Should Give His Titles Back (and His Money)

At least that's the title of this piece (Thanks Anonymous). Reading between the lines, though, it sounds like he is more angry that Agassi double-crossed the ATP:

"I'm not defending the ATP, but what he said put it in a delicate position," Safin said. "The ATP allowed him to win a lot of tournaments, a lot of money. It kept his secret. Why does he need to be so cruel with it?"

I notice he wasn't asked the obvious question and I'm wondering if we have a case of the pot calling the kettle black?

Update: I'm adding a pic of Safin for reference. There are certainly differing opinions regarding suspicion of PED use for him, but I would disagree with the commenter who describes him as "scrawny."

Doping Favoritism for the Stars

The Steroid Nation blog has an interesting post about how top athletes are often given a pass and even tipped off about upcoming drug tests. It would be interesting if a smaller name player who tested positive and received a suspension sued because of this unfair treatment.

Gasquet not out of the woods...

It appears the axe keeps dropping after the Agassi revelation:

Richard Gasquet will go before the highest court in sports Tuesday for what he says was a cocaine-tainted kiss in a nightclub.
The World Anti-Doping Agency and International Tennis Federation have asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland to ban him for one to two years.

Late with the big news in tennis doping

I have been incommunicado for a few days and, surprise surprise, Wickmayer and Malisse get one year suspensions, which sad, doping enabler, Peter Bodo calls "draconian."

To Bodo's credit, he finishes his piece like this:

My immediate reaction -- that this is a case of overkill -- has been changing even as I've typed these words. I'm going to suspend judgment until the appeals are formally submitted, but it would be terribly unfair to all those players over whom Wickmayer has leapfrogged if her apparently conscious effort to avoid those tests represented something more than youthful irresponsibility.


What should be quite obvious is that Wickmayer has been playing some stellar tennis of late and looks a little pumped up. She missed 3 drug tests. To say that it isn't a real doping violation because she didn't test positive is to not understand the nature of doping. She likely missed these tests for the obvious reason that she was worried as to what the result of the tests would be. This is a common strategy, as has been pointed out on this website in the past. If players know when they will be tested, they are going to test negative, unless they are stupid or very careless. If you are going to catch players doping, you have to have tests for which they are given no advanced notice. While it's true that tennis players travel more than some athletes, most other professional sports involve traveling around the world during the season. There is simply no reason that a player couldn't tell a doping official his or her location. I'm sure they tell their husband or wife where they are (and I doubt the spouse would accept an "I forgot my password" excuse). There are millions of dollars on the line for these players. All the more reason that they need to be clean and available to prove it on a moment's notice.
It may be that this increased punishment for Wickmayer and Malisse came about because of the Agassi revelation. Nevertheless, maybe that is what what was needed to start taking doping in tennis seriously.

WADA wants some answers from The ATP

And the ATP is trying their best to dodge the bullet:

"The ATP can confirm it has received a letter from WADA," the tour said in a statement e-mailed to the AP on Monday. "When it responds it will do so directly to WADA and not through the media."
The statement continued, in part: "The ATP would also like to reiterate its policy of not commenting on anti-doping test results unless and until an anti-doping violation has been found."

Agassi Story Not Yet Dead

This is a story from a former ATP official who briefly discusses the cover-up of his positive test (thanks anonymous). There are a few other stories floating around suggesting he was using other PED's, particularly in reviving his career. It certainly wouldn't surprise me, but there isn't much meat to them at this point. In any case, the Agassi story still has some legs and could open the door for some other cover-up admissions.