*
I recently caught wind of a blog that is dedicated solely to the cause of “exposing” the use of performance enhancing drugs and blood doping in the tennis world. The appropriately named Tennis Has a Steroid Problem has been on a three-year crusade to demonstrate that there is a widespread problem that plagues professional tennis.
The slight problem, though, is that they have no proof. I admittedly have read only a handful of the 1,000+ posts on the site, but at first blush, it seems like a tinfoil-hat outfit. Since 2008, a very small number of tennis players have been found guilty of doping violations, and it is true that most of them are low-ranked players. THASP argues that this is a whitewash, a way for the International Tennis Federation to point to the fact that their tests are indeed effective at exposing evildoers within the pro ranks.
But top-level players have been found guilty. Filippo Volandri, Richard Gasquet, Ivo Minar, and Wayne Odesnik are a few examples. Going a little farther back, 2005 French Open finalist Mariano Puerta was twice found guilty of doping violations when he tested positive for clenbuterol and etilefrine. Three other Argentines, including Juan Ignacio Chela and the Guillermos, Coria and Cañas, also received suspensions for their use of banned substances. These guys are hardly nobodies. Chela remains in the top 30 despite being 32 years old, though I guess that's a little suspicious on its own right.
I have no idea how prevalent PED use is in tennis, and I lack the expertise to know how effective the ITF's drug testing policy actually is. But one of the recurring arguments on THASP is that tons of people are caught doping in cycling, so therefore, it is suspicious that tons of people are not caught doping in tennis. In particular, they decry the paucity of EPO (blood-doping) tests.
This is patently ridiculous. Tennis and cycling are very different sports, and they are completely different cultures. Cycling is a sport that is based entirely on endurance. While endurance is important in tennis, being in great shape is nowhere near enough to get you to the top of the rankings. The incentive to dope in cycling comes from the realization that, if your main competitors are using PEDs, it is virtually impossible to win without doing it yourself.
That's not the case in tennis. Let's just assume, as THASP does, that Rafael Nadal is doping. If Federer started doing it (or does he already?!), I feel like that would have no effect on his head-to-head record against Rafa; their matches are not battles of attrition but of strategy. The match-up is not favorable for Roger. For guys who are lower in the rankings, such as the aforementioned Chela, there is no possible amount of doping that would put him near Federer's level. In modern tennis, no matter how fit you are, it is no match for skill.
Maybe I am something of a tennis apologist. I like almost all of the top players in the modern game, so I'm reluctant to admit there is a problem. Ultimately, though, my personal feelings are just as valid as the arguments expressed at THASP. It is a site filled with speculation and hyperbole. If he wants to be taken seriously, then posts like this are not the way to go about it.
Again, I have no way of knowing who is or is not using PEDs or EPO, but neither does THASP. To condemn Nadal for an interview in which he said the following strains credulity:
RN: Nope, no diet at all, just the normal things of a pro player. Lots of carbohydrates, proteins, meat, fish, salads, .... I think you mean by guns the arms? Believe me that is from playing tennis, no gym at all.
What is the logical conclusion? That Nadal just took banned substances and magically became ripped without doing any extra work? Steroids...
If there is a huge scandal in the upcoming months or years, then this guy can say he's right and that he was a visionary who saw a problem that everyone else ignored. Until then, I see him as nothing more than an alarmist and a conspiracy theorist. But, of course, I could be wrong.
*http://www.thetennisspace.com/off-court/special-report-nadal-doping-video-controversy/
That blog has actually not been created to 'expose doping in tennis', which of course they can't, because they are no official anti- doping agency, but to 'expose Rafael Nadal' which they, of ocurse, can't do either. As the blog owner revealed one day, he created the blog to 'bring down Nadal'. And to no other reason that he is a bitter old Federer fan.
ReplyDeleteIts a place full of psychopaths, ufo- believers and other bitter old Federer- fans. Sure, maybe ufo- believers are right. Maybe bitter old Federer- fans are right too.
Reading the blog you will see that Federer, of all players, is very much protected there. He never gets accused of anything. Its just 'unpopular' over there.
Has the irrational hate against one sportsman by fans of some other sportsman has ever created such a turmoil?
I agree with you. It think the blog is a bit hysterical. think the dude is a bit much in his anti-nadal attacks. But, even if players are doping, it doesnt make them baby killers.
Deletebut I gotta say that some of the stories might need a look or 2: Nadal is a bit suspcious; Djoker and his oxygen egg, caught eating a mysterious substance and his crazy rise from useless player to X-Men via a gluten free diet (whaaaat?); serena wiliams hiding from antidoping officials in her panic room and her mysterious disappearance from tennis for a year because of glass in her foot (whaaaaaat?) ; Justine Henin and her mysterious disappearance from tennis for 14 months (which is the same amount of time as a doping suspension....) whaaaat...w e i r d .
The players who get caught are probably just trying to stay competitive to make a living and take care of their families. If they see other guys doing it...who can blame them? How would the sport react (would the world react) if one of the top 3 players tested positive? major shit show on their hands. Look at Agassi: he tested a big yes for meth and they tossed it. who's to say he never yessed a doping test?
NIce blog btw.
I think the THASP blog is indeed alarmist, overly suspicious, and a great read. But the fact remains is that it, and many others in the sport (including journalists, and high profile players) have raised some questions that tennis has never answered.
ReplyDelete- Why are tennis players not tested on a regular basis. why are they allowed to skip testing?
- the sudden retirements of players, and sudden "re-emergences". the bizarre absences due to unexplainable injuries?
- As a physically fit 24 year old athlete who trains 2 hours 4 days a week, I cannot understand the sudden rises of Nadal, Djokovic, and many others. Just their body changes in such a short time makes no sense. If they are actually committed to training as infrequently as they claim, it makes no sense that they would be able to stand the kinds of demands that tennis requires.
Despite your claim, tennis is a sport of endurance. it will not guarantee wins, but faster recovery does help. EPO or blood doping, will not help a player win, but ive seen the effects of blood doping, and have to say, there are some suspicious things happening in tennis.
I love the sport, and believe that many athletes are clean. but just like in swimming, (remember Irish athlete Michelle whats her face?) when world records suddenly fall or when bizarre changes in the status quo take place, asking questions is important.
no one thought marion jones was doping. and guess what.
I was referred to this blog entry from the THASP blog, which I am reading with interest. And while I agree that some of the material there is questionable, the fact remains that the bloggers are commenting on a situation that is quite obvious: tennis players today are doping. I am a huge Federer fan, but I'm not convinced that ANYONE at the top of the game is beyond suspicion. If tennis journalists covered this topic as exhaustively as the blog, then the blog would have no reason to exist. But as long as those journalists fail to do their job, I will read what THASP uncovers quite happily. Fans of baseball, cycling, and track have been hit hard by scandals of doping. My wish is that the ITF police itself accordingly so that tennis doesn't have to endure that kind of crisis. To be a die-hard fan who refuses to question the changes that so clearly point to evidence of doping is just being complicit.
ReplyDelete"I have no idea how prevalent PED use is in tennis"
ReplyDeleteSays it all really.
Neither do you, but the difference is that I don't pretend to know.
DeleteOh, that's a GREAT reason to dismiss a website that relentlessly presents compelling evidence for widespread doping in tennis.
DeleteBut I guess we shouldn't speculate that with millions on the line, tennis players at the highest levels would take EPO or HGH or steroids or other performance enhancing drugs, with only a profoundly ineffectual anti-doping regime in their way.
Let's cover our eyes, carry on, and not say a thing because we can't "prove" PED use to courtroom standards.
God, you're dumb.
"Neither do you, but the difference is that I don't pretend to know."
DeleteYes you do. The clue is in the title - 'Tennis Does Not Have a Steroid Problem'.
The THASP site has, at the very least, compiled a list of compelling evidence including detailed lists of who has been tested and who hasn't. It doesn't paint a pretty picture.
The rest of the 'counter arguments' here simply revolve around exactly the same arguments regarding PED use in baseball - 'It wouldn't help you', 'Tennis is different', blah, blah blah. It's the same denial that has been repeated many times.
Lol, thanks for your lazy, sloppy dismissal of Tennis Has a Steroid Problem and the issue of doping in tennis overall. THASP presents mountains of CIRCUMSTANTIAL-BY-THEIR-NATURE yet highly compelling arguments for widespread doping in tennis.
ReplyDeleteYou respond with "logic" to dismiss tennis' unbelievable physiques, suspicious behavior before, during and after matches, missed drug tests, ineffectual drug tests doping-related health issues and on and on.
You make this claim for why doping wouldn't help in tennis "While endurance is important in tennis, being in great shape is nowhere near enough to get you to the top of the rankings." Wow. Just absolutely idiotic for so many reasons. Right. Extra endurance wouldn't help in tennis. Recovering from fatigue and injury much faster than naturally wouldn't help in tennis. Gaining power on serves and volleys wouldn't help in tennis. Oh. Ok.
You should be ashamed of your embarrassingly feeble dismissal of a site that merely states the incredibly obvious: that just as with EVERY OTHER SPORT ON EARTH, high level tennis is plagued with PED/doping cheating.
Stop being a moronic apologist. This isn't about hating Nadal or Federer or Venus. This is about the ability to actually think critically. And you apparently don't have that ability.
"While endurance is important in tennis, being in great shape is nowhere near enough to get you to the top of the rankings."
ReplyDeleteThere is a key word in this sentence ("enough") that you seem to have ignored. Being in good shape doesn't make you hit a tennis ball any better. Marathoners might be in great condition, but that doesn't make them good tennis players. I never said that endurance wouldn't help. And how, exactly, would steroids give you more power on volleys? You don't even swing when you hit a volley.
Here's the thing. If it turned out tennis players were doping left and right, I wouldn't even care. I think Steroid Era players in baseball should be in the Hall of Fame. If, in fact, everybody is doing it, then it balances out. Why shouldn't we get the best out of our athletes?
But there are basically two options here. The first is that tennis does not have a steroid problem, as I claim. The second is that there's a huge conspiracy/cover-up designed to keep it from coming to light. I believe the former is more plausible.
Wow, you seriously cannot think well. It's embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteFirst, your half-assed sentiment that doping wouldn't matter in tennis. Yes, idiots said the same thing about baseball in the day ("steroids can't make you hit the ball.")
Do you understand the range of PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS? Do you get that they're about strength, speed, recovery, stamina - the entire range of attributes that tennis requires? Do. You. Fucking. Get. That?
I'll take your third moronic point next. Wherein you create a false dichotomy: that tennis has no steroid problem or that it has a massive, nefarious conspiracy to cover it up. *sigh* Um, did you consider the fact that tennis demonstrably has a lax, easily-outmaneuvered, toothless doping policy? Have you read anything in general about how far ahead of testing doping technology is - that it is very easy to beat by knowledgeable people? (Before you start giggling maniacally and saying that I have no proof, think about Marion Jones, as just ONE example. She was tested her entire career and never caught. Until BALCO was busted).
Now for your middle "point". The last gasp of the apologist/terrible thinker. Throwing the hands up after flimsy defenses and saying "yeah, the lame ass excuses I lazily trotted out don't even matter..." Level playing field and all that . Well, that's an entirely different issue altogether, and that's not for THASP to have to prove. They're allowed to present highly provocative anecdotes, images, and knowledge that casts a high level of suspicion on top tennis stars. Doping is CHEATING according to the rules of professional tennis. By doping, these athletes are cheating on a massive scale - and lying to us about it inherently. Personally, I find that revolting. But that is a secondary issue.
But again, thank you for your utterly lazy "argument." It's nice to be taken back to the days of 2002 in baseball, hearing people mock Jose Canseco for being a liar, valorizing Bonds and Sosa and Rodriguez.
Pathetic.
If you want to base your enjoyment of a sport on the (unsubstantiated) belief that all its athletes are "cheating," that's fine. That seems to be what the cult of THASP is all about. I like watching great tennis players play great tennis, but that's just me. That's the most we people who can't think well can ask for.
ReplyDeleteTo answer another question, no, I haven't read much of THASP at all. I tried for a while, but I got annoyed with their strategy of spamming well-known tennis personalities on Twitter. There are better ways to get your point across than trolling Jon Wertheim.
But then again, trolling seems to be you guys' specialty, since so many of you have come out to comment on a blog that hasn't been updated in six months. I'm sure it's fun--I'm sure my original post was a little trolly at times--but you're never, ever going to change anybody's mind using this tone.
You can show me all the "highly provocative anecdotes" you want, but anecdotes don't amount to evidence in my world.
"If you want to base your enjoyment of a sport on the (unsubstantiated) belief that all its athletes are "cheating," that's fine. That seems to be what the cult of THASP is all about. I like watching great tennis players play great tennis, but that's just me."
DeleteYou could have distilled your view of this in one sentence - 'I don't care about drug use in sport'. That's OK, but it blows away any other assertions you want to make out of the water.
"To answer another question, no, I haven't read much of THASP at all."
Fantastic. So you have nothing to argue with.
You can now stop commenting on something you know nothing about because there's nowhere else you can go. You've obviously never been anywhere near athletes or even anyone at a gym who nows what it actually takes to acquire a physique of somene like Sam Stosur.
"....comment on a blog that hasn't been updated in six months."
Delete???? I think you'll find it has.
"but you're never, ever going to change anybody's mind using this tone. "
I'm afraid sane people don't use 'tone' to change peoples' minds. They use a little thing called evidence and reasoned argument. When that fails there is nothing you can say.
The desperation shines through........
No, MY blog hasn't been updated in six months, and you're commenting on it. Not THASP. They update 174 times a day. Also, and I don't know why I keep feeding the trolls, but LOL if you think tone doesn't have anything to do with an argument's effectiveness. You might think that you're making a "reasoned argument," but when you're unilaterally dropping F-bombs like that, you're just being a jerk. You catch more flies with honey and all that jazz.
DeleteWhen you say I'm desperate, I think you miss the mark. The truth is that I just don't care. I really don't. Tennis players today are better, by orders of magnitude, than they ever have been before. I enjoy watching great tennis. Therefore, I don't care how they got that way. When we start seeing a slew of positive drug tests, I'll admit you're right, and I still won't care.
Look at Lance Armstrong. He was guilty. Very, very guilty. And a terrible person, by most accounts. But that in no way devalues his athletic achievements. 99.99% of his fellow competitors were also doping, so it would have been stupid for him to try to compete without performance enhancement. I don't think that's the case in tennis, but if it is, then I would in no way, shape, or form blame a player for using PEDs.
Oh. Ok. Until you have perfect "proof", you'll stick your head in the sand, fingers in your ears, pretend everything's ok.
ReplyDeleteHere's the thing: if you don't think cheating doesn't matter, or refuse to let blatant lying and rule-breaking interfere with your enjoyment of sports, then don't pretend sports has any message or anything to teach us besides "win at all costs."
For me, there is zero fun in that, zero to admire.
Here's the thing...we just don't know. But does it matter? On one level. Not a jot. 'I just want to turn up and watch great players, play great tennis'. Fair enough. But on another level, it matters hugely. When (as appears likely in the Armstrong case) the authorities are complicit in simply ignoring positive tests (amongst other claims of pre-warning for out of competition testing) then the game is really up. What is the point?
ReplyDeleteSport is littered with with tainted results and careers. And in far too many cases premature deaths. In fairness most of these sad stories are in the sports of cycling and athletics. So should tennis worry? I'm not a tennis man. Don't really care. But I would say 'yes'. All I'd ask every tennis loving fan to think on three things. Very briefly:
1. Operation Puerto. The code name of the Spanish Police operation against the doping network of Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. Media attention has focused primarily on cycling. On 5 July 2006, Fuentes was indignant that only cyclists had been named and said he also worked with tennis and football players. The current generation of Spanish football and cycling is seeing spectacular success. Contador, Valverde, Rodriquez, Uefa 2008, World cup 2010 & Uefa 2012, eg, see Spanish sporting superstars combining exceptional levels of endurance and explosiveness. It is hard not to be cynical. As Fuentes said he 'also worked with tennis players'. OP has implications for tennis, those appointed guardians for the sport need to unstinting in their work.
2. I believe where endurance and explosiveness abilities come together in sport they can produce unbelievable feats, and set records that will last for decades. I've neither the time or inclination to detail the analogies with some top track athletes from the USA. You only need a passing knowledge of sports history to consider the similarities between the PED fuelled, colourful and discredited life of Griffiths-Joyner's and ... Anyone come to mind? Does it matter? Maybe, maybe not. But history says where it looks bad, where it smells bad..it probably is. So what's the point in watching it.
3. Money. When you consider the Grand Slam prize fund is circa 70M.
Last years anti-doping budget was circa 800k. The budget wasn't spent and guess what because nothing of note was found. Therefore the budget will go down. In 5 years will the budget be £250? Smacks of unbelievable complacency. Where there's money...there's muck (inside and outside sport). Except in tennis by all accounts. Transparency in all walks of life (even banking!) is critical. An index-linked, say, 5% of Grand Slam prize money to fund anti doping testing (esp. out of competition) would be a step in the right direction.
Three things to think about.
But please think it doesn't matter.
Apologies. Grammar in final point bodged up and final sentence should've read:
ReplyDeleteBut please DON'T think it doesn't matter.
“You are -- your life, and nothing else.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit
I have to say, the author of this blog sounds worse and worse with every comment he makes. I am even starting to wonder what dog he has in this fight, and why he is trying so hard (and failing so badly) to condemn THASP.
ReplyDeleteI mean, the author goes to all the trouble of making a webpage and writing a long opinion piece with the title:
"Tennis Does Not have a Steroid Problem"
And yet, when called on to defend his reasoning, he repeatedly claims he just doesn't care about steroids in sport. He isn't interested.
So why did he write a blog and give it such a title? Because he doesn't care?
At best, the author is a confused weirdo who goes around writing about stuff that he doesn't care about.
At worst, he is actively defaming another website for reasons that are hidden. Does the author sells drugs to athletes? Does the author manage a drug cheat? What is his real game? Why is he attacking THASP?
See, I am the guy who doesn't care about drug cheats. I agree they are not baby killers, and anyway the type of people who preach and rant about "cheating" in sport fail to understand that sport is recreational.
I can "prove" I am the guy who doesn't care. Dig it: even though I do read about drug cheats, I have NEVER made a website and posted an opinion piece attacking someone else's website.
Forget tennis. What we all know for sure is that Chris Marshall has an integrity problem. He is a liar, and a defamer.
He tests positive for both.
So, Christopher Marshall, what do you say now that Dr Luis Garcia del Moral, identified in the USADA Armstrong report as the mastermind of the US cycling doping program, has been named as the personal physician of professional tennis players like Sara Errani (Italian #1, WTA #6) and, simultaneous to his cycling activities, had a fifteen-year relationship with the prestigious Valencia Tennis Academy where players like the indefatigable David Ferrer have trained extensively? Dr del Moral is also linked to Marat Safin and Dinara Safina, both former world #1's.
ReplyDeleteYou might also find interesting the recent Joe Rogan interview with Victor Conte, convicted PED designer and distributor, who supplied Marion Jones. Particularly the part where he implicates by name Ivan Lendl, Michael Chang, Greg Rusedski, and Maria Sharapova, identifying them all as former doping clients. If he is lying, these are libelous accusations. Strangely, no one has filed suit yet. Hm, I wonder why.
I would condemn you as a hack but the blogosphere is filled with people like you, lazy sports dilettantes desperate for page hits even if it means looking like a total jackass.
I do wonder sometimes why people care so much about this post--and how they find it--but all the page hits do pay the bills. Well, they pay the bills in the hypothetical universe where this blog is monetized.
DeleteBut let me address the accusations leveled toward these players (almost) in order.
Sara Errani: Nobody cares about Sara Errani. She's useless.
David Ferrer: Maybe someday he'll dope enough to make a major final.
Marat Safin: The only doping he did involved booze and cigarettes.
Dinara Safina: Worthless. Didn't dope hard enough, obviously.
Ivan Lendl: The title of the post isn't "Tennis Did Not Have a Steroid Problem 85 Years Ago."
Michael Chang: God is the only drug he needs.
Maria Sharapova: Too busy taking photos with her Canon to dope.
Greg Rusedski: Ok, he probably doped. I hate Greg Rusedski. What a jerk.
Anyway, Anonymous, I highly doubt that this del Moral guy was giving drogas to pro tennis players. I mean, come on, he has the word "moral" in his name. That's all the evidence I need.
Instead of getting all riled up by this post, you should go look at the precious kitty cats we posted on our farewell article. So adorable. A little TOO adorable. It's not natural. I bet they were fur doping.
People find this post because your headline shamelessly mimics the title of a smarter, more substantive, more heavily trafficked sports blog.
ReplyDeleteRead how a search algorithm works sometime. Actually, your modus operandi would be to say search algorithms don't exist because you are ignorant of them.
Your witless reply to the facts I presented reveals that you are an absolute imbecile and not worth any further attention.
Christopher Marshall.. quit while you are behind, dude
ReplyDeleteChristopher Marshall is a "fan with type writer". It's obvious that there is doping in Tennis amongst other things including match fixing. The ITF is just corrupt in that they choose not to catch players.
ReplyDeleteI also have read the THASP blog and found it to be, at best, unsubstantiated opinion and, at its worst, direct and unevidenced character assassination. Very silly, very subjective and farcically biased. I'm interested in objective facts, not twisting of facts into contorted and hysterical witch hunts. Yes, you suspect Rafa is doping. It may be the case that Djoko's miraculous gluten-free diet is a cover-up for blood doping. But you don't have any evidence, and therefore I remain unconvinced. By the way, for us scientists, an anecdote is not evidence, and 100 anecdotes are still not evidence.
ReplyDelete