General Doping/PEDs Discussion

[the AntiPusher]

Can I guess his name?

Absolutely good Sir

 

[the AntiPusher]

WADA spokesman to the BBC:

WADA say Sinner's case "a million miles away from doping"



This is what makes this whole narrative more interesting. I tend to believe this, while at the same time I’m angry at Sinner and his team for what happened.

Agreed.

 

[Kieran]

Absolutely good Sir

Does the name have letters in common with Non Disclosure?

 

[Jelenafan]

To me Its a matter of accountability, players are always crediting their team/entourage for whatever feats they accomplish.

Unfair or not, the player gets the glory for all the team’s concentrated efforts.

If, knowing the strict rules and regulations, your team fails to comply with the drug:/doping/banned substance compliance its also on the player. Its not a matter of fairness, its a matter of the sport in general maintaining that the standards of clean playing is enforced regardless of how much any individual player is liked or disliked.

 

[britbox]

Couldn't he have come up with a better excuse like "The cat ate my homework"?

Sinner is the athlete competing - he's 100% accountable. If he was a Marmite character ("Love him or hate him") then I suspect many more would be baying for blood... but despite being Italian, he has the persona of a mild floppy-haired Swede, and most tennis fans just want a slap on the wrists. Nobody wants the dark underbelly of systematic sports doping exposed because it kills the sport... and even the anti-doping authorities go down on that ship.

 

[Kieran]

Meanwhile, don’t tell Novak, but it’s not only the rich and famous get a good result:

Tennis player cleared of doping after blaming positive test on contaminated Colombian meat​

The 23-year-old Zanellato reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 458 in April 2024. He has a little more than $45,000 in total career earnings from singles and doubles, according to the ATP website.

 

[Kieran]

From the BBC, this is a very interesting article from behind the scenes, about the negotiation process between Sinner and WADA:

Inside the doping deal for tennis' world number one

 

[Kieran]

Uncle Toni bites back at Sinner’s critics!

I'm surprised that different players have taken a stance against him, including some at the highest level—and even some who are not so clean themselves.

 

[Kieran]

I was away for a few days so I don’t know where it was discussed that Serena typically used the gender card with regards to Sinners ban, claiming that she’d have been banned for 20 years, and also finding sympathy for Sharapova, presumably because women ought not be banned for doping.

Unless their name is Iga.

It’s really unhelpful to the sport and the drug testing authorities when uninformed comments like these are made by a player of her prominence. Leaving aside her constant use of the race and gender card when it suits her, usually to defend her own obnoxious behaviour, she shows little or no acquaintance with the topic she’s discussing.

She complained in 2018 that she was being tested too often - though that was easily debunked. She skipped a test that year which might have triggered more tests. Did she ever eventually take the drug test on that day in 2011 when she famously hid there her panic room? It’s not publicly recorded if she did.

If tennis has a drug problem, testing and bans are part of it. Players past and present have a duty to inform themselves of the truth in each case before spouting nonsense for the cameras…

 

[britbox]

Kyrgios made his feelings on the subject quite clear.

 

[Kieran]

Kyrgios made his feelings on the subject quite clear.

So Nick says that number 300 in the world can’t earn enough money and then 2 later minutes he complains there’s too many tournaments and that tennis should pull up it’s tents after the US Open and have no more tournaments until the next year?

“Who the fuck is watching Antwerp 250? Are you watching this?”

I imagine local fans are watching it and maybe the 300 ranked tennis player is also watching and wishing he’d qualified so he’d make some money? One of the inquisitors suggests that the tour end early so they can have a longer off season so maybe the players can make a little more money, to which Nick says “100%.”

But how can they make more money when there’s no tournaments? By painting fences in their local club?

It is a rough life but realistically it can be viewed as being Darwinian. You fight your way into the elite, and start earning money. The events played by lower ranked players don’t generate money to pay them well. You only get paid well when you’ve gotten great enough results to get paid. That’s possibly only in the world top 100, and that can’t become a crowded space, unfortunately.

I mean, I sympathise with lower ranked professionals, they’re in the elite of the sport, but people don’t want to go watch tournaments where there’s no chance to see the top players. Nick shot himself in the foot by pointing out the real reason why lower ranked players aren’t earning enough:

“Who the fuck is watching Antwerp 250?”

As for the drug thing, Sinner didn’t have enough juice in him to benefit. It wasn’t a good look for the sport and the way the ban was handled was atrocious, but Nick was into this one for personal reasons, I believe. He’s not the brightest…