Slams to Get Tough On Drug Tests

[Tiebreak100]

EXCLUSIVE: Tennis Grand Slams to finally get tough on drug tests
By MIKE DICKSON
PUBLISHED: 23:18, 25 February 2013 | UPDATED: 23:18, 25 February 2013
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Wimbledon and the other three Grand Slams are to pledge a doubling of their financial contribution to tennis’s anti-doping programme in a major effort to stop potential cheating.
A summit involving the game’s governing bodies and four Major tournaments in New York early next month is expected to result in a considerable beefing up of a system that has been criticised by Roger Federer for lacking vigour.
Wimbledon and the Australian, French and US Opens are likely to put in extra funds as part of the biggest shake-up yet seen to a programme which conducted only 21 out-of-competition blood tests for the whole of 2011.

Clamping down: Wimbledon has met with the other three Slams to discuss plans
While not making any public comment, the All England Club have confirmed their intention to offer a 100 per cent increase in funding.
Tennis spends only £1.05million a year collecting samples across the whole sport.
The four Slams are believed to be putting in around £100,000 each annually at the moment. No official numbers are available but one authoritative source put the anti-doping contributions of the ATP and WTA Tours at a mere £215,000 each.
It has led to fears, expressed most forcefully by Federer and Andy Murray, that not enough is being done to stop those who might seek to gain unfair advantage in a sport which puts an increasing premium on strength and stamina.

Critical: Federer feels that drug testing is not thorough enough in tennis
According to ITF figures for 2011, the tennis anti-doping programme carried out 2,150 tests that year, but barely 10 per cent of those were done outside tournaments and the vast majority were urine tests.
The numbers for 2012 are expected within the next week and will show a barely significant increase in specimens taken.
That is all likely to change for this year, with the tours and ITF world governing body under pressure to match the Slams’ example of doubling the resources of the unit.
The specific areas that will be increased will be blood testing, out-of-competition tests in general and the introduction of biological passports, which check for alterations in a player’s blood make-up.

Meeting: Talks have taken place in New York, home of the US Open
It was hoped those might be introduced as soon as late next month but it is now expected they will come later in the spring.
An ITF spokesman said: ‘There has been an agreement to increase activity in testing and the group will be meeting to confirm the next steps.’
Murray is likely to be among those pleased.
Earlier this month, he said: ‘The only way you can improve testing is by having more and you need money to do that, it’s a cost thing.
‘But I think you can save money because more people would come to watch sport, rather than reading all the time about doping scandals.’
According to highly-placed sources, the hardest to convince of this path has been the WTA Tour.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/te...-tests-brought-Grand-Slams.html#ixzz2Ly9W8a9T
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[OddJack]

20 is possible now.

 

[iradical18]

I'm glad to hear this. Would it be wrong to ask players to pitch in 50-100$ each tournament to have testing before every tourney or is that overboard?

 

[Goosehead]

which players will be a bit scared now .

 

[90's Clay]

Screw the self policing crap.. Outside entities need to be in here policing pro sport organizations because they are too corrupt to do it themselves and 9 times out of 10 are going to let the money makers off the hook and sweep everything under the rug.

If not for outside entities stepping in, we would still have guys smacking 70-75 home runs a year in baseball or Lance Armstrong winning Tour De France titles at 50 years old

"Slam will get tough" Yea right.. They will only get "tough" with the bottom feeders. The guys who they really need to keep an eye on are the ones at the top who can play 10 hours of tennis straight, then come back the next day and play another 10 hours without slowing down or guys that are 30 plus years old playing tennis like their still in their damn 20s

 

[Murrayfan31]

It would be cool if they wake Rafa up at 5am on match day at a slam.

 

[SwankPeRFection]

I'm glad to hear this. Would it be wrong to ask players to pitch in 50-100$ each tournament to have testing before every tourney or is that overboard?

I think they should be ******* in a tube before and after every match, but that's just me.

 

[Tennis_Hands]

..... or guys that are 30 plus years old playing tennis like their still in their damn 20s

Sampras is already retired. No need to doubt his USOpen win in 2002.

 

[papertank]

I really hope that after this happens people will shut the hell up about players doping and silent bans.

 

[mariecon]

.... The guys who they really need to keep an eye on are the ones at the top who can play 10 hours of tennis straight, then come back the next day and play another 10 hours without slowing down or guys that are 30 plus years old playing tennis like their still in their damn 20s

Yeah that David Ferrer. He's juiced to the gills.

 

[Carsomyr]

Screw the self policing crap.. Outside entities need to be in here policing pro sport organizations because they are too corrupt to do it themselves and 9 times out of 10 are going to let the money makers off the hook and sweep everything under the rug.

If not for outside entities stepping in, we would still have guys smacking 70-75 home runs a year in baseball or Lance Armstrong winning Tour De France titles at 50 years old

"Slam will get tough" Yea right.. They will only get "tough" with the bottom feeders. The guys who they really need to keep an eye on are the ones at the top who can play 10 hours of tennis straight, then come back the next day and play another 10 hours without slowing down or guys that are 30 plus years old playing tennis like their still in their damn 20s

Are you suggesting Rod Laver was a doper?

 

[citybert]

As mentioned on the other thread I think this is what will happen if they do 'real' testing. more than 50% of the players will test + and they would probably just have to cancel the entire tournament. They would never do that due to $$ and interests, so they'll probably just single out one top 100 player while all the others still get to play.

Same ol stuff. if they want to change anything they should televise live the blood drawn and tested and audited for all the QF players.

I'm in the camp of just letting them use whatever they want so it's a true or true-er level playing field, who cares. Arnold and Sly both juiced to become famous, and people knew, and they didn't have to test, and yes they were in a way competing for spotlight and roles

 

[mariecon]

As mentioned on the other thread I think this is what will happen if they do 'real' testing. more than 50% of the players will test + and they would probably just have to cancel the entire tournament. They would never do that due to $$ and interests, so they'll probably just single out one top 100 player while all the others still get to play.

Same ol stuff. if they want to change anything they should televise live the blood drawn and tested and audited for all the QF players.

I'm in the camp of just letting them use whatever they want so it's a true or true-er level playing field, who cares. Arnold and Sly both juiced to become famous, and people knew, and they didn't have to test, and yes they were in a way competing for spotlight and roles

I care. That's not fair, since some players can afford better dope than others. And they can't condone something that is harmful to players' health. It won't happen.

 

[iradical18]

I think they should be ******* in a tube before and after every match, but that's just me.

Oh I completely agree but blood testing before every match would be ridiculously expensive, that's why I suggested that the players pitch in a few bucks.

 

[Gonzo_style]

which players will be a bit scared now .

Carlos Berlocq?

 

[Bartelby]

A big percentage increase off an extremely low base makes a good headline, but it is hardly a significant change.

 

[Relinquis]

Rod Laver and Ferrer are shorter guys, relative to other pros. This gives them an advantage in terms of movement. It doesn't mean doping.

Shorter guys are usually more athletic in terms of stamina, fitness, agility and such. More explosive change of direction and less stress on their joints over time. Look at football players (Maradona, Messi, Pelé and such), the shorter ones are more agile and explosive in their movement. Genetically superior in a way for such sports, like tall people are for basketball, high jump and reaching the top kitchen shelf. You won't find many ballet dancers over 1.90 metres and 85kgs...

I don't think the players should pay for the additional cost of more testing. The big tournaments are swimming in cash. The top tennis bureaucrats probably take in more pay than some of the top 50 players. The whole of tennis spends £1.05 million a year on testing, i.e. peanuts. They have the money to double this easily. Charge the corporate sponsors more for plastering their name all over the net and around the courts...

 

[ivan_the_terrible]

So they suddenly wake up to this now????

For years the doping costs have come in under budget, yet they complain about funds.


And why have they blocked the French from conducting their own drug testing @ FO (2009 being the exception)?

 

[citybert]

I care. That's not fair, since some players can afford better dope than others. And they can't condone something that is harmful to players' health. It won't happen.

I think it's definitely good that people should care, but just as in life some people are given privileges while others aren't. Not saying I like that or it's right but there will never be a perfect system

There is no real evidence it is harmful to players at least yet, HGH is actually good and there is a whole documentary citing steriods are not bad for you, it's actually used in lots of medication, not the dosage the cheaters use of course. I think the real evidence will be how these guys turn out in their 50s and 60s. But uppers and cortisone shots were deemed as bad 30 years ago, harmful and cheating, but now it is almost ok to use.

Also when gene doping becomes available in 10-15 years there will probably be no way to test. So this is only a short term solution if they do it right.

 

[jrs]

All doping is done before events

Oh I completely agree but blood testing before every match would be ridiculously expensive, that's why I suggested that the players pitch in a few bucks.

Most of the PEDs are taken during off season training. They do extreme training to build up muscles and stamina - then during competition they are off the stuff. So testing during competition is a waste of money. Can only catch people who don't know what they are doing. As they say it becomes an "IQ" test - not a drug test.

If money is an issue take it out of the Marketing budget - because that's what this a marketing stunt.

 

[cknobman]

So lets see if players playing well in their 30's means they are a doper we gotta say Laver, Tilden, Agassi, Connors, McEnroe just to get started.

Kinda silly dont ya think?

 

[citybert]

Oh I completely agree but blood testing before every match would be ridiculously expensive, that's why I suggested that the players pitch in a few bucks.

That's not such a bad idea, also they need to keep B samples to test 5 years from now.

Maybe should go all out with a spinal tap, that'll be popular among the players.

 

[iradical18]

Most of the PEDs are taken during off season training. They do extreme training to build up muscles and stamina - then during competition they are off the stuff. So testing during competition is a waste of money. Can only catch people who don't know what they are doing. As they say it becomes an "IQ" test - not a drug test.

If money is an issue take it out of the Marketing budget - because that's what this a marketing stunt.

I'm not too sure about that for Tennis, I don't really see any off season break long enough to get a good cycle in and to see any true benefit.

 

[corners]

This is a good move. But if you've read the recent statements of former ATP anti-doping head Richard Ings, increasing funding for tests and the number of tests is not actually going to catch dopers. It might deter them slightly, but he has said several times that the only way to actually catch cheaters is for the anti-doping bodies (ITF and WADA in this case) to cooperate with law enforcement in countries where tournaments are held. There are a lot of rumors that the French authorities were trying to do just that at Roland Garros in 2009, but I don't know what ever happened to those efforts. ITF and WADA need to use biological passport data and records of missed tests to tip off local authorities about potential cheaters. Of course, some world #1 players have diplomatic immunity so catching those at the very top might be impossible.

 

[DropShotArtist]

If only they started this 10 years ago. Federer would be sitting on 25 slams by now.

 

[mariecon]

This is a good move. But if you've read the recent statements of former ATP anti-doping head Richard Ings, increasing funding for tests and the number of tests is not actually going to catch dopers. It might deter them slightly, but he has said several times that the only way to actually catch cheaters is for the anti-doping bodies (ITF and WADA in this case) to cooperate with law enforcement in countries where tournaments are held. There are a lot of rumors that the French authorities were trying to do just that at Roland Garros in 2009, but I don't know what ever happened to those efforts. ITF and WADA need to use biological passport data and records of missed tests to tip off local authorities about potential cheaters. Of course, some world #1 players have diplomatic immunity so catching those at the very top might be impossible.

2009? Really? Hmmmm...what happened at Roland Garros in 2009? Let me think...

 

[single_handed_champion]

Idiots. Fat chance they'll catch anyone doped DURING a Slam. If it is a top, top player, it MIGHT happen if they are upset in the 1st round or something, but otherwise no.

 

[Bobby Jr]

The thing here is this looks like they're doing something positive. Doubling the budget for testing in tennis is not going to increase the chance of the same methods catching anyone who is cunning. A rethink globally on how drugs testing is done is needed.

The bio passport thing is one but it would take years to build up and the results would usually show up retrospectively meaning there would be less "caught him" moments during competition.

For my part I think they should have periods prior to majors where whoever the current top 20 players are will be tested at least twice, if not more times a week for a month. But those days are randomly picked. It would cost money but the cost of travel wouldn't be as prohibitive as people think as most of the players will be in the same locations.

People say the Tour De France shows regular testing doesn't work but I bet if they'd tested those guys every few days in the month prior to the Tour the races would have been ridden a lot slower. Testing during the big competition meets is almost a waste of time in the current system. Tennis' tour format makes it easier to do rigorous drug testing imo as players compete much more regularly than track and field athletes or cyclists for example - and they're often in the same city.

 

[corners]

I just gotta say that I absolutely love the progress made on drugs testing in the past three months. 90 days ago you could still find people on these boards swearing up and down that Lance was clean and that tennis wouldn't, couldn't have a PED problem. Now, nearly everyone is educated enough to know that the current testing regime is a joke, and that every single player on tour could be doping and we wouldn't even know it. I have no idea if anyone actually is doping, but the authorities need to get their butts in gear and implement some kind of an effective system because tennis fans are finally informed and are not going to stand for a going-through-the-motions drugs testing program.

 

[Relinquis]

Key question underlined below...

So they suddenly wake up to this now????

For years the doping costs have come in under budget, yet they complain about funds.


And why have they blocked the French from conducting their own drug testing @ FO (2009 being the exception)?

 

[jrs]

Diplomatic immunity?

This is a good move. But if you've read the recent statements of former ATP anti-doping head Richard Ings, increasing funding for tests and the number of tests is not actually going to catch dopers. It might deter them slightly, but he has said several times that the only way to actually catch cheaters is for the anti-doping bodies (ITF and WADA in this case) to cooperate with law enforcement in countries where tournaments are held. There are a lot of rumors that the French authorities were trying to do just that at Roland Garros in 2009, but I don't know what ever happened to those efforts. ITF and WADA need to use biological passport data and records of missed tests to tip off local authorities about potential cheaters. Of course, some world #1 players have diplomatic immunity so catching those at the very top might be impossible.

Is that true, some players have diplomatic passports? That's awesome - can just walk through any airport without answering anything to anyone.

 

[mariecon]

Is that true, some players have diplomatic passports? That's awesome - can just walk through any airport without answering anything to anyone.

Djokovic...

 

[jrs]

Why not let the players do what they want to perform at their best

I just gotta say that I absolutely love the progress made on drugs testing in the past three months. 90 days ago you could still find people on these boards swearing up and down that Lance was clean and that tennis wouldn't, couldn't have a PED problem. Now, nearly everyone is educated enough to know that the current testing regime is a joke, and that every single player on tour could be doping and we wouldn't even know it. I have no idea if anyone actually is doping, but the authorities need to get their butts in gear and implement some kind of an effective system because tennis fans are finally informed and are not going to stand for a going-through-the-motions drugs testing program.

Why not let the players worry about their own health. Juniors need to be prevented from using PEDs. Perhaps BIO passport for them - after they turn 18 - it's in their hands.

 

[Smasher08]

Djokovic...

Wow, I hadn't been aware of that. And he got it right before his miracle run began in 2011.

:shock:

EDIT: nope, that's incorrect. He appears to have gotten it at the end of April 2011 -- well after the run began. Mea culpa.

Still, I believe it's bad policy to give these to professional athletes since their immunity privileges will almost certainly be abused by cheaters.

 

[mariecon]

Wow, I hadn't been aware of that. And he got it right before his miracle run began in 2011.

:shock:

EDIT: nope, that's incorrect. He appears to have gotten it at the end of April 2011 -- well after the run began. Mea culpa.

midway through the run. :wink:

 

[THUNDERVOLLEY]

"Slam will get tough" Yea right.. They will only get "tough" with the bottom feeders. The guys who they really need to keep an eye on are the ones at the top who can play 10 hours of tennis straight, then come back the next day and play another 10 hours without slowing down or guys that are 30 plus years old playing tennis like their still in their damn 20s

Interesting. Well, we will see how this pans out; it is possible--but not proven--that some who are the biggest champions of testing do so to remove suspicion from themselves...or are clever about when they use. Again, none of this is proven about any accused player, but your point is well taken.

 

[dudeski]

Screw the self policing crap.. Outside entities need to be in here policing pro sport organizations because they are too corrupt to do it themselves and 9 times out of 10 are going to let the money makers off the hook and sweep everything under the rug.

If not for outside entities stepping in, we would still have guys smacking 70-75 home runs a year in baseball or Lance Armstrong winning Tour De France titles at 50 years old

"Slam will get tough" Yea right.. They will only get "tough" with the bottom feeders. The guys who they really need to keep an eye on are the ones at the top who can play 10 hours of tennis straight, then come back the next day and play another 10 hours without slowing down or guys that are 30 plus years old playing tennis like their still in their damn 20s

I thought you liked Nadal?

 

[dudeski]

Poor Nadal just when he thought it was safe to come back...

 

[sureshs]

I just gotta say that I absolutely love the progress made on drugs testing in the past three months. 90 days ago you could still find people on these boards swearing up and down that Lance was clean and that tennis wouldn't, couldn't have a PED problem. Now, nearly everyone is educated enough to know that the current testing regime is a joke, and that every single player on tour could be doping and we wouldn't even know it. I have no idea if anyone actually is doping, but the authorities need to get their butts in gear and implement some kind of an effective system because tennis fans are finally informed and are not going to stand for a going-through-the-motions drugs testing program.

Lance was not believed to be clean. What many people believed is that the USADA was acting extra-constitutionally and their powers needed to be curbed. It had nothing to do with Lance per se. If not curbed, every quasi-government agency would abuse its non-existent power, let alone the regular agencies which do have actual power.

The Lance incident was just used by Humbalito haters who are Eleganto ****s to create thread after thread on this forum, as if that would somehow reverse the H2H ratio or get Eleganto an Olympics gold. Meanwhile, Eleganto has won 0 titles this year while injured Humbalito already has one.

 

[THUNDERVOLLEY]

The Lance incident was just used by Humbalito haters who are Eleganto ****s to create thread after thread on this forum, as if that would somehow reverse the H2H ratio or get Eleganto an Olympics gold. Meanwhile, Eleganto has won 0 titles this year while injured Humbalito already has one.

All so true. I wonder how many backflips of pain they would perform if "Eleganto" (aka Crying Man) turned out to be a PED user...

 

[Relinquis]

anti-doping isn't for player's health it's to keep the sport fair. otherwise it is modern F1. Might as well have them sponsored by teams and genetically modified.