While fans speculate whether defending champion Andre Agassi can win his ninth Grand Slam or Venus Williams can rebound from injury, another story has cast a shadow on the Australian Open.
Greg Rusedski’s announcement two weeks ago that he tested positive for nandrolone last July — and his allegation that the traces of the banned steroid must have come from a supplement provided by ATP trainers — has thrown a shock into the sport.
”It’s sad that this is what we’re talking about before the Australian Open,” said Brad Gilbert, who rose as high as the fourth ranking while winning 20 singles titles between 1982 and 1990. Gilbert now coaches top-ranked Andy Roddick and formerly coached Andre Agassi.
”I’ve seen Andy get tested so many times, and this is a clean sport,” Gilbert told Melbourne’s Sunday Herald Star newspaper.
Lindsay Davenport, the fifth-seeded woman, said steroids would have limited benefits in tennis.
”I’m sure some players unfortunately do go down that path, but ultimately, tennis is still a game of skill,” she said. ”So I think although it probably would help in some aspect, ultimately, it comes down to how well you can make contact with the tennis ball, and no drug is going to help you get better at that.”
The ATP, which runs the men’s tour and is part of the tennis anti-doping program along with the ITF and the WTA, conducted at least 1 100 random tests at tournaments in 2003 and about 60 out-of-competition tests.
Former number one Agassi said in the 13 tournaments he contested in 2003, he had urine samples taken 11 times and had blood samples taken eight times, including three in out-of-competition tests.
Roddick said he was tested at least 17 times.
”One of the things we can say is our sport is leading — if not the top sport — in drug testing in both intensity as far as what they test for and how often they test,” Agassi said. ”I have full confidence I am playing someone who is clean.”
Rusedski is allowed to continue playing pending a February 9 hearing on his case, and faces 26th-seeded Albert Costa in the first round at Melbourne Park. He got generous applause when he walked on to court in a warmup tournament in Sydney and was cheered when he walked off.
”Obviously I know I’m innocent — I’m not going to hide,” he said. Other players had been exonerated after their positive samples showed a similar ”fingerprint”, meaning the substances could come from a common source, he said.
”I’m not the only person in this situation. The facts speak for themselves,” said the 30-year-old Rusedski, a US Open finalist in 1997.
He’s had public support from fellow Briton Tim Henman and Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic, one of seven players initially to test positive for nandrolone only to be cleared by an independent inquiry, persuaded that ATP trainers might have unwittingly handed out contaminated supplements.
”I believe Greg 100%,” Ulihrach told Britain’s The Guardian newspaper. ”I’m sure it’s some mistake.”
John McEnroe, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, fuelled the controversy when he said he was given a strong — but at the time legal — steroid for six years without knowing it and that he had suspicions that players were taking drugs when he was playing.
Drug testing in tennis started in the late 1980s by the Men’s International Professional Tennis Council, initially for recreational drugs. Other substances that were considered performance-enhancing have been added to the banned list since then.
Rusedski says his is one of 47 cases where traces of nandrolone might be attributed to supplements provided by ATP trainers.
The ATP rejects the figure, saying in 36 cases, players showed elevated levels of nandrolone that were below the threshold for a positive test. The men’s tour said seven other minimal positives were erased after it couldn’t prove supplements dispensed by its trainers didn’t contain traces of banned substances.
The ATP became aware of the possibility that it was mistakenly giving out contaminated products last May, when an unidentified player tested positive for nandrolone and said he was only using ATP-provided electrolyte tablets that help avoid dehydration.
Ulihrach’s ban and fine was quashed after that.
Nandrolone has produced a spate of positive tests in several sports in recent years. In many cases, athletes said they took the banned substance unknowingly in nutritional supplements.
Petr Korda, the 1998 Australian Open champion, tested positive for nandrolone at Wimbledon later that season and was banned for one year.
News of Rusedski’s positive test came two days after Argentina’s Mariano Puerta was suspended for nine months by the ATP for testing positive last year for clenbuterol. — Sapa-AP