Who would think that professional tennis has the toughest, no-nonsense anti-doping policy in all of professional sports?  With all the talk about steroids and growth hormone in Major League Baseball and the National Football League, just look at the example set by the International Tennis Federation to see how anti-doping policy should be handled...

Professional tennis runs the best anti-doping program in all of pro sports, and the big boys in the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA should be embarrassed over how impotent and ineffectual their programs actually are.  While these leagues are all patting themselves on their own backs about how tough their paper tiger programs are, the guys and girls in the tennis shorts are engaged in an actual anti-doping program.

Here are some of the highlights of the ITF’s program.  The stuff in quotes is right from the rulebook, and the non-quote stuff I’ve paraphrased to save some time and space.

“Any player who enters and participates in a competition, event or activity organized sanctioned or recognized by the ITF or who has an ATP Tour or a WTA Tour ranking (a “player”) shall be bound by and shall comply with all of the provisions of this program, including making himself or herself available for testing both In-Competition and Out-of-Competition.”

This means that if you play the game – or do anything remotely connected to the game - you will play the game by the ITF’s rules, or you go home.

“Any coach, trainer, manager, agent, Covered Events staff, official or medical or para-medical personnel working with or treating a player is bound by and shall comply with this programs”

This means ball boys and girls could have to give up samples if need be. 

All players must make sure that all of his/her “people” are aware of the rules of this program and that anything the player ingests, or medical treatment given, doesn’t break the rules.

“It is each player’s personal duty to ensure that no prohibited substances enters his or her body.  A player is responsible for any prohibited substance or its metabolites or markers found to be present in his or her specimen.”

So while guys like Shawne Merriman - and those who supported him to be the NFL Defensive Player of the Year and a Pro Bowler - have made a travesty of the concept of anti-doping, professional tennis has taken steps to ensure that this kind of behavior won’t be tolerated. 

Professional tennis has taken steps to prevent their clean players from being cheated by their dirty players.  Why haven’t pro football and baseball done the same?

“It is the sole responsibility of each player to ensure that the ITF is able to communicate with him or her efficiently and reliably in relation to matters arising under this program.”

So at all times the player is responsible for making sure that the ITF can get in contact with them at any time for any reason.  This rule is in the book because the ITF has an Out-of-Competition drug testing policy.  Which brings us to the next entry in the ITF rulebook…

“All players shall be subjected to Out-of-Competition testing under this program including No-Advanced Notice of Out-of-Competition testing at any time and place. (My emphasis)”

This means that ITF officials can show up at any time in any place and demand whatever sample of whatever substance that they desire.  And if the player doesn’t submit to the test, or if the ITF cannot locate the player, this is considered a “fail.” 

The ITF goes so far to include in the rulebook the notice the that “the ITF is not liable for any inconvenience or loss caused to the player as a result of the Out-of-Competition testing.”  That is awesome, and yet another reason why the NFL and company should be ashamed of themselves.

As far as In-Competition testing is concerned, the ITF has full discretion to test any players that they want, at any point in the competition.  Semi-finalists and finalists are typically subjected to testing.

Professional tennis players are subject to both blood and urine tests.  No other American professional sport can say this, and that’s sad.  While NFL Players Association chief Gene Upshaw speaks about blood tests like he’s talking about leeches being used to draw blood, professional tennis players are the real tough guys when it comes to anti-doping.

Plain and simple, any league or union stooge who doesn’t want to adopt and embrace the ITF’s anti-doping program really isn’t interested in protecting the clean players who are playing by the rules and who don’t want to take the risk of introducing foreign substances into their bodies.

That’s not just sad, it’s criminal.

Readers have left 2 comments.

No.1 Untitled

Great article. Next step stop the administration of numbing injections on game day. That is a big problem. One NFL player admitted he took 82 injections before & during to play in a playoff game and the damage it caused to play in that one game lasted years.

Submitted by Guest User, Unregistered • 2008-02-01 16:36:12

No.2 Untitled

Interesting article. It says that all players must comply with drug sampling request. But, it doesn't say how often the authorities actually request samples. Rules are good but enforcement of the rules is necessary.

Submitted by Guest User, Unregistered • 2008-07-01 11:58:35

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