The Roar
The Roar

Tennis
Advertisement

Many unanswered questions surrounding drugs in tennis
Ritesh Misra
Roar Guru
14th March, 2016
9
Join the conversation
Advertisement
Write for The Roar

Anyone can contribute to The Roar and have their work featured alongside some of Australia’s most prominent sports journalists.

With the Wada hack, drugs in sport just got murkier. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
Ritesh Misra
Roar Guru
14th March, 2016
9

Maria Sharapova is not the first celebrity tennis player to be involved in a drug scandal. Let’s have a look at a few more.

Interestingly, there was a time when alcohol was allowed during matches. Suzanne Lenglen used to drink cognac while playing.

There have been instances where players got drunk while playing Grand Slam matches. Jimmy Connors and Ilie Nastase, who emptied a bottle of champagne while playing doubles in the 1970s, were probably the last players to have a drink while playing.

Alcohol was banned, but sadly rumours of drug abuse have continued. There were rumours of even top players like Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, Vitas Gerulaitis and Pat Cash taking cocaine.

Mats Wilander and Martina Hingis even tested positive for cocaine.

Astonishingly, many argued that because cocaine is a recreational drug it’s okay to use, but the law is clear: being a stimulant, it is banned.

Accusations
Yannick Noah created a sensation by admitting that he had taken hashish but insisted that others were doing cocaine. He also said that if it was not dealt with strictly there could even be deaths from overdoses.

Boris Becker once accused Thomas Muster of taking drugs. There were rumours about Gabriela Sabatini too and she threatened legal action when her name was discussed as a possible drug user.

Advertisement

Could these accusations by legends be true?
In his autobiography, Andre Agassi confessed he had snorted crystal meth with a friend named Slim. He tested positive in a tournament in 1997, but his explanation that his drink was spiked was accepted, and the entire sordid episode was swept under the carpet. He went on to win many majors.

Was clean chit to him and keeping it a secret fair on clean players?

In 2002, French player Nicholas Escude claimed that many players were on drugs and that the ATP was hiding the results. In 2002 and 2003 seven players tested positive for nandrolone and 53 showed high traces of it.

However only one of the seven, Bohdan Ulihrach, was identified and suspended for two years.

Why were others not named?

Did they go on to win majors? We do not know.

Richard Gasquet tested positive for cocaine at the Miami Open in 2009 but swore that he had never done drugs, saying he had gone clubbing and his drink may have been spiked. His close friend Rafa Nadal gave a bizarre excuse saying Gasquet may have kissed a cocaine user.

Advertisement

Gasquet later said he had indeed kissed a woman, named Pamela, a few times. His sentence was cut from two years to two and half months, but ‘Pamela’ sued him, saying he damaged her reputation and ruined her relationship with her husband.

Was reducing his punishment fair? We do not know.

Transparency and consistency are crucial for retaining faith in fair play, yet aren’t always applied. For instance, while Ulihrach was suspended, Greg Rusedski tested positive yet no action was taken.

With regards to Sharapova, one wonders why her doctor would prescribe her medicine not for sale in the USA? Furthermore, how did Sharapova and her support staff miss as many as six communications saying that meldonium has been put on the banned list?

Will these questions remain unanswered as well?

9
Join the conversation

Whether it’s aces or races, try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp for great odds and a great punting experience.  Chances are you’re about to lose.  Set a deposit limit.

Related Posts

close