Announced doping tests? Tennis world association in the criticism
The tennis world association ITF is again criticized for its allegedly lax anti-doping policy. According to a report in the English newspaper Mail on Sunday , the ITF warned players against blood doping tests before several major tournaments.
by SiD
last edit: Jun 19, 2022, 08:54 pm
The professionals should use an online portal to specify a time window for the blood samples for the biological athlete passport (APB) - with up to four days in advance. According to the Mail on Sunday , this affected the 2019 French Open, the 2021 US Open and the 2022 Miami tournament.
"It's like before when it was announced that all athletes would be tested on the eve of the Tour de France. That's not good," said Luis Horna, former head of the Portuguese Anti-Doping Agency. With a few exceptions, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) provides for unannounced tests in its code.
Since January, tennis tests have been carried out by the independent International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). The ITIA told the Mail on Sunday that it wants to collect as much data as possible, "so logistically it makes sense" to arrange the tests "once or twice a year in advance".
Federer has also already criticized the lax anti-doping fight
The anti-doping fight in tennis has long been rated as insufficient. In 2016, Roger Federer noted that he had only been tested once in ten years during his pre-season in Dubai.
NADA, Germany's anti-doping agency, once complained about the world association. At the WTA tournament in Stuttgart, the controls should have been scheduled 35 days in advance, it makes "little sense to still talk about target controls," said NADA board member Andrea Gotzmann in 2019. NADA therefore refrained from doping tests in Stuttgart.