Novak Djokovic had to be quite nervous during the Davis Cup match. The Serbian defeated the British Cameron Norrie 6: 4, 6: 4 and during the match he had a fight with the rival fans. Nole became enraged because the fans were beating drums and singing loudly. The world number one shouted at them: “Learn to respect the players, respect the people. Shut up, sit quietly!
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Djokovic’s reaction was so strong in part because of the events leading up to the match. “In 20 years of my career this has never happened to me,” the Serb was stunned. “Before the game, a person followed me because an hour and a half before the game they told me about the need to donate blood. But I have my own order of actions and I cannot be distracted. Thinking that I need to donate blood, if I can donate urine… A completely illogical decision. I have always supported controls, but not before the game. What will change? Test after the game. “They don’t understand sports, they don’t understand why they are necessary here.”
Let’s find out why tennis officials do not protect, but instead try to suffocate the players by choosing sacred victims.
Brengle’s vein burst during a blood draw, she sued and lost
An equally egregious incident occurred in 2018 with American tennis player Madison Brengle. She was at her home in Florida preparing to see a doctor when a doping officer knocked on the door and demanded a test. The girl did not indicate the day or time of the visit as scheduled for the test, so Madison declined the test. The USADA representative was not satisfied with this response: “If you opened the door, it means you are available. If you are not prepared to complete the procedure, this will be considered a violation of the anti-doping program,” the official surprised the tennis player.
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This man did not depart from Brengle; He even accompanied her to the doctor and refused to leave the office, having witnessed a confidential conversation. Upon returning home, the American gave urine, but she refused to have blood drawn from her; Madison showed a copy of the conclusion that “testing with a needle entering a vein causes psychological and physical harm to her health.” The tennis player claims that after one of these incidents, a vein burst due to her excessive exertion and a huge bruise formed on the arm she was hitting.
Madison Brengle
Photo: Robert Prange/Getty Images
According to the American, she did not miss a single anti-doping control and all the results were negative. But after that incident, the tennis player ran out of patience and sued the WTA and the ITF, alleging that the blood draw during the anti-doping control had caused damage to her health, which the girl estimated at 10 million. Dollars. She understands: the player is not a product. They are exceeding her authority,” Brengle stated. However, it was not possible to achieve justice and set a precedent: in 2021, the Florida District Court rejected Madison’s claim.
The shamelessness of the WADA and ITF representatives (the agreement with the World Anti-Doping Agency on anti-doping controls has been in force since 2002) also angers former world number one Andy Murray. In 2019, a British man said that he once arrived at his house at seven in the morning, immediately after his arrival from Australia. “The officer insisted that he show identification and write down my own address, even though he was in the house. Then this man stood two feet away from me while I was peeing! My quality of life suffers a lot because I have to tell AMA where I am, even if I’m resting. One day they came to my hotel in Miami when I was on vacation. “I am firmly opposed to doping in sport, but more appropriate measures must be taken in relation to tennis players,” laments the Scot.
Serena hid from doping officer in “panic room”
In November 2011, Los Angeles Emergency Services received a call at six in the morning. The woman on the other end of the line told the operator that she saw a stranger trying to get into her house. At that moment she hid herself in the so-called “panic room.” The person she called turned out to be Serena Williams: the American had set up such a shelter in her mansion after one of her annoying fans tried to break into her house a year earlier. At the time of his arrest, the 40-year-old man stated that he loved the tennis player and trusted that the feelings were reciprocated. Police responding to the call determined that this time the stranger turned out to be a WADA doping officer.
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Such regular visits tired Serena so much that in the fall of 2018 she couldn’t stand it and, in her usual style, criticized everyone she could. The reason was the fact that throughout that year, USADA tested Williams more frequently than any other tennis player. In response, representatives of the organization stated that they have the right to monitor any player as regularly as they wish. “And again, only Serena was chosen for a “random” drug test. It has already been proven that of all the players I am the one who tests the most. Discrimination? I think so. But, at least, thanks to me, the sport will be clean,” the tennis player ironically said on social networks.
Serena Williams was checked more frequently than other players
Photo: Getty Images
Thus, Serena added gasoline to the fire of the conflict that occurred in the summer of that year on the eve of Wimbledon, when the doping officer came to her at 8:30 in the morning. He did not find the American at home, but refused to leave until she returned. That day, an enraged Williams called WTA boss Steve Simon and USADA boss Travis Tygart, complaining of “aggressive and biased” attitudes.
Since then, little has changed: the requirements are becoming stricter. In 2023, Swedish number one Mikael Ymer was disqualified for a year and a half for missing three doping tests. The interesting thing about this story is that Ymer was initially acquitted, but the ITF, contrary to common sense (the International Tennis Federation should protect the players), filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. This authority approved the player’s suspension for 18 months. “Some kind of terrible dream. I don’t think that’s fair. Neither the decision itself, nor the subsequent penalty, which seems unreasonably large. Such a long disqualification is actually equivalent to three years, since I will have to start from scratch. That’s why I’m ending my career,” Mikael suffers.
The ITF inflated the number of anti-doping tests it carried out, in parallel with Lance Armstrong
Ymer, in his fiery speech, also suggested that he was a necessary sacrifice for the system to work. Most likely, the same as Simona Halep for women. It all started with Maria Sharapova in 2016; Before that, tennis was disqualified only for drug use (Richard Gasquet, Martina Hingis) and pharmacology was often included among the therapeutic exceptions. The only professional tennis player who was convicted at the time of intentionally using anabolic steroids was the little-known American Wayne Odesnik.
“Several years before the Sharapova case, I pointed out that anti-doping testing in tennis was minimal. “It is not surprising that, with the exception of Odesnik, no tennis player has been caught using substances as advanced as growth hormone or synthetic testosterone,” said Dr. Donald Catlin of the laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles. Researchers from ESPN’s Beyond the Lines analytical program agree with this opinion: “Sharapova’s example was necessary to imitate a tough fight against doping.”
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The witch hunt has intensified in recent years following the revelation that, until 2019, the ATP agreed with players to undergo anti-doping controls at Masters and Grand Slam tournaments. Anti-doping experts say the technique has huge implications for cheaters. WADA compared this approach to cyclist Lance Armstrong’s successful doping era: If you know the time and place of the test, it’s easier to fool the system. The WADA Code states that “except in exceptional and justified circumstances, all checks shall be carried out without prior notice.”
Simona Halep and Maria Sharapova
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
The ITF also exaggerated the number of doping tests it conducted. The International Tennis Federation considers each sample taken during an individual doping test as a separate test. If a player submits blood, urine and blood passport samples at the same time, this counts as three tests. “I have always been suspicious of federations that are based more on the number of tests carried out than on their quality. They take refuge in statistics and say, “Oh, we’ve looked at 1,000 players,” laments former WADA president Dick Pound.
It is not surprising that today, in search of the next sacred victim, tennis leaders are willing to drown players (as in the case of Imer), disrupt the preparation of matches (Djokovic) and nightmares with advance controls ( Murray), infringing rights. and freedom of movement. Not to mention basic respect and the presumption of innocence.
THE NAIS IS OFFICIAL EDITOR ON NAIS NEWS