Doping in mens tennis and silent bans

Centre Court

Centre Court

Semi-Pro
I've seen some crazy stories and articles in my time, but apparently all the "Big 4" have at some point in their careers been doping. I don't know whether to believe it but even the great Federer is apparently doping and received a 6 month silent ban after wimby ( which I think is utter ****)
we have nadal who has always been accused of doping no matter what point it's been in his career , Djokovic playing like a brick wall winning 4 majors in a row then when Sharapova gets found out for doping he plays like I would, then Murray who was a brick wall in the latter parts of last year and he gets accused of doping..........I don't want to assume but, if they were doping they would get banned ? Right? Or are these guys too good for the game to be banned ? I don't know what to think.....
Here is the Reddit post on Federer
https://www.reddit.com/r/tennis/comments/5onzbm/was_the_truth_of_the_matter_that_federer_received/
 
MichaelNadal

MichaelNadal

Bionic Poster
Centre Court said:
I've seen some crazy stories and articles in my time, but apparently all the "Big 4" have at some point in their careers been doping. I don't know whether to believe it but even the great Federer is apparently doping and received a 6 month silent ban after wimby ( which I think is utter ****)
we have nadal who has always been accused of doping no matter what point it's been in his career , Djokovic playing like a brick wall winning 4 majors in a row then when Sharapova gets found out for doping he plays like I would, then Murray who was a brick wall in the latter parts of last year and he gets accused of doping..........I don't want to assume but, if they were doping they would get banned ? Right? Or are these guys too good for the game to be banned ? I don't know what to think.....
Here is the Reddit post on Federer
https://www.reddit.com/r/tennis/comments/5onzbm/was_the_truth_of_the_matter_that_federer_received/
Click to expand...

If one is, they all are.

tumblr_or08kfjb6C1vr9uv5o1_500.gif
 
E

EdSWright

Professional
Hey Rafa, Novak, remember that guy you've been out lasting and out grinding over and over? Turns out he was on something.
 
Bartelby

Bartelby

Bionic Poster
We do have silent provisional suspensions, silent TUEs, and now we even have silent player selection of who will do their chair umpiring. No wonder confidence is shot!
 
octobrina10

octobrina10

Talk Tennis Guru
Centre Court said:
I've seen some crazy stories and articles in my time, but apparently all the "Big 4" have at some point in their careers been doping. I don't know whether to believe it but even the great Federer is apparently doping and received a 6 month silent ban after wimby ( which I think is utter ****)
we have nadal who has always been accused of doping no matter what point it's been in his career , Djokovic playing like a brick wall winning 4 majors in a row then when Sharapova gets found out for doping he plays like I would, then Murray who was a brick wall in the latter parts of last year and he gets accused of doping..........I don't want to assume but, if they were doping they would get banned ? Right? Or are these guys too good for the game to be banned ? I don't know what to think.....
Here is the Reddit post on Federer
https://www.reddit.com/r/tennis/comments/5onzbm/was_the_truth_of_the_matter_that_federer_received/
Click to expand...

Rafa haters (aka Fedlovers) have always made up stories about Rafa.
 
Rafa24

Rafa24

Hall of Fame
octobrina10 said:
Rafa haters (aka Fedlovers) have always made up stories about Rafa.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah I know it's such BS. It's the only excuse they can come up with for him being dominated by Nadal.

If I were to suspect anyone of doping it would be djoker. He went from retiring all the time to a superhuman. And I do find it odd his decline started around the time sharapova and meldonium were banned.

Fed and Nadal have been consistently good for all of their careers.
 
Red Rick

Red Rick

Bionic Poster
Consisntely being good for all your career is just as much an indication of cleanlyness as for career long doping.

Why do people dope? Cause it's easy as **** to get away with, and because it pays off tremendously. I can hardly blame them, but let's just stop pretending they're saints.
 
Bartelby

Bartelby

Bionic Poster
Given that they pulled Meldonium as a PED straight from the pages of a Cold War novel, my guess is that there isn't any longer any real possibility of doping in tennis.

Unless, of course, micro-dosing really is effective.
 
Rafa24

Rafa24

Hall of Fame
Red Rick said:
Consisntely being good for all your career is just as much an indication of cleanlyness as for career long doping.

Why do people dope? Cause it's easy as **** to get away with, and because it pays off tremendously. I can hardly blame them, but let's just stop pretending they're saints.
Click to expand...

If someone is great from 18-28 it's possible it's been career long but not any indicator at all of doping. In my eyes it seems more likely that a guy who was known from retiring from matches and stuff and then all the sudden becomes an iron man and nearly unbeatable in his mid 20s seems more suspect. But hey, thats just like my opinion man[/thedude]. Not to mention Novak has had some roid rage like moments in his dominant stretch than I ever remember seeing him have before he became a machine....
 
Rusty Shackleford

Rusty Shackleford

G.O.A.T.
Sureshs doesn't use PEDs. Sureshs doesn't dope. He is just high on life.

And ham hock, bacon stuffed potatoes, tortellini with shrimp, spaguetti and meatballs, pork chops, veal, lasagna, grilled chicken, steak in mushroom sauce, butter sticks, raw cookie dough, etc.

But mostly life.

#Nattyreshs
 
Rusty Shackleford

Rusty Shackleford

G.O.A.T.
Bartelby said:
Given that they pulled Meldonium as a PED straight from the pages of a Cold War novel, my guess is that there isn't any longer any real possibility of doping in tennis.

Unless, of course, micro-dosing really is effective.
Click to expand...
It's called Mildronate, my good man. It's supposed to treat a vast range of incurable diseases. We must press WADA to give Masha a Mildronate TUE, or I fear for her well-being.
 
Bartelby

Bartelby

Bionic Poster
I'm afraid old boy Mildronate was a Cold War trick designed to get Russia out of the Olympics.

Rusty Shackleford said:
It's called Mildronate, my good man. It's supposed to treat a vast range of incurable diseases. We must press WADA to give Masha a Mildronate TUE, or I fear for her well-being.
Click to expand...
 
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Tommy Haas

Tommy Haas

Hall of Fame
Djokovic got a lot better when he claimed he eliminated gluten from his diet. He had allergies causing nasal congestion that affected his oxygen levels and endurance. He also used to breathe out of his mouth.

Then he discovered that he was allergic to gluten and eliminated it from his diet which allowed an increase in blood oxygen levels. That would have helped improve performance. That's my theory.
 
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T

TennisBro

Professional
Centre Court said:
I've seen some crazy stories and articles in my time, but apparently all the "Big 4" have at some point in their careers been doping. I don't know whether to believe it but even the great Federer is apparently doping and received a 6 month silent ban after wimby ( which I think is utter ****)
Click to expand...
I have no doubt those 4 and many, if not most, other athletes do it in some way. The oldest ones are on top for all their experience, knowledge and wealth which can buy them the best services one can get. The young ones in tennis are behind in tennis for not having enough knowledge, expertise and money to buy what their older competitors have. In the NHL or NBA, the situation is much different, since those are team sports. Players, who participate in international competitions, go through quite a bit of scrutiny prior to their games. Cleaning up means a lot of work which may have to start a couple months before the day, and so some players choose not to participate too. Sports are truly becoming a giant jungle which is for the modern discoveries mostly, although the demand from players what to do or not is also a factor.
 
Fedinkum

Fedinkum

Legend
I don't mind if Fed dopes, but if he does dope, please let Murray to be a doper too....I love to see Maria's celebration!!
 
Lord Anomander

Lord Anomander

Professional
ArcspacE said:
If everyone is doing it - is it still doping?
Click to expand...

Yes. But you still need to be better than the rest to win majors and it's obviously not because you are doping. You just need to use it, so you can stay ahead of them.

Fedinkum said:
I don't mind if Fed dopes, but if he does dope, please let Murray to be a doper too....I love to see Maria's celebration!!
Click to expand...

To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if all of them dope. Let's imagine you are incredible talented (as Fed), but you lose to other players because they have better stamina and recover a lot faster than you. Even though you train as hard as you can. Considering you most likely will never get caught, because the doping industry is always a step ahead of anti doping agencies, you would be an idiot to say "no" and rather lose to scrubs that grind you to death.

Also doping isn't magic, you still need to spend hours on and off the court practicing and working your ass off. If I were to use peds, I'd still lose to many opponents that are better tennis players and practice/work out more than I do.
 
Sentinel

Sentinel

Bionic Poster
Fedinkum said:
I don't mind if Fed dopes, but if he does dope, please let Murray to be a doper too....I love to see Maria's celebration!!
Click to expand...
I do mind if Fed dopes, and if he does, I still hope others don't cos I'd probably stop watching tennis if they are all dopers. I lost interest in athletics in the 90's when so many sprinters and middle-distance runners were caught doping.
 
Lord Anomander

Lord Anomander

Professional
http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/a-571031.html

One of the best articles I've read regarding doping. It's from 2008 and in German unfortunately, but I'll try to summarize a few points. Spiegel interviews Angel Heredia, who was a "drug dealer" (for athletes) hiding from the police in Texas. They eventually caught him and after denying everything they showed him a lot of evidence that they knew what he was doing.

Spiegel: Mr. Heredia, are you going to watch the 100 metres final?
Heredia: Sure. But we won't see a clean gold medal winner. Not even a clean participant.
Spiegel: Out of eight runners ...
Heredia: ... eight will be doped.
Spiegel: But this cannot be proven.
Heredia: It's like this, without a doubt. The difference between 10 and 9.7 seconds is doping.
Spiegel: Does doping enable everyone to become a world record holder?
Heredia: No, this is misbelief: "You interject something and are flying tomorrow". In real life you have to train unbelievably hard and be very talented and have a perfect staff around you. That's when doping will make the difference. [...] Doping has long term effects: they help you, so you can recover and avoid the catabolic phases. Playing volleyball at the beach might be healthy - elite sports is not. You are destroying your body. [...]
Spiegel: Do you have any further secrets?
Heredia: Of course, yes. There are pills that block metaboliltes from steroids. If athletes hand over their urine sample, they do not excrete the metabolites and are tested negative. There are enzymes that slowly eats proteins, for example EPO has protein structures and the enzyme is responsible to make a huge difference between the B-sample and the A-sample. [...] I have 20 drugs that are still untraceable to the searchers.
[...]

He also mentions that Mother Nature is unfair, because Maurice Greene has 9 nanogram testosterone per milliliter blood while Tim Montgomery only has 3 nanogram. He would only forbid dangerous substances, e.g amphetamines and steroids. Furthermore, he adds that even archers use so-called downers, so there arm is still all the time.

This interview really changed my view on doping and clean sports (or the non-existance of these).
 
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