Doping Report Causes Stir

It was hardly an ideal start for the Australian Open and the Women’s Tennis Assn. The first player in the main interview room today spent nearly all of her interview answering questions about an apparent positive drug test.

U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia responded to reports out of Belgium quoting government officials as saying a player had tested positive for a banned substance at an exhibition in Charleroi in December.

Those in the event were defending Australian Open champion (and now-injured) Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, Nathalie Dechy of France, French Open and U.S. Open finalist Elena Dementieva of Russia and Kuznetsova.

The matter took an odd twist when Claude Eerdekens, an official with the Belgian sports ministry, reportedly said Henin-Hardenne had not tested positive.

This only ratcheted up the attention on the other three.

“I think it’s definitely unfair to every player because every [one] of us is thinking, ‘What’s gong on?’ ” said Kuznetsova, who defeated American Jessica Kirkland, 6-1, 6-1, in the first round.

“I’m not worried that much about it because the truth will come out. I’m pretty sure myself I’m not using an anabolics or whatever it’s called.... I am definitely not using nothing to push myself up in the game or something.”

In Melbourne, officials from the WTA and the International Tennis Federation said they had no knowledge of the charges.

“Public reports regarding drug testing conducted at an exhibition event in Belgium outside of the tennis anti-doping program are inaccurate,” said Larry Scott, WTA Tour chief executive. “Neither the WTA Tour, the named players nor the ITF has been contacted by the Belgian authorities. These are unsubstantiated rumors and it would be irresponsible to comment any further.”

The Belgian newspaper Le Soir reported that the player who tested positive had been notified and that officials hoped to test the “B” sample in the next couple of days, though none of the three has admitted to receiving a notification.