It’s Time to Close Loophole for Drug Use

What exactly are exceptional circumstances?

a) Ignorance.

b) Strong character references.

c) Being a really, really nice guy, or as Pat Rafter says, “A good bloke.”

d) Having enough money to hire a really, really good lawyer.

Or, all of the above, as it turned out in the Petr Korda drug case. Less than a week after the International Tennis Federation (ITF) lost a round to Korda in the High Court in London, the fractious World Conference on Doping in Sport at Lausanne, Switzerland, opened.

There, once again, we heard the phrase, “exceptional circumstance.” Unable to get everyone to agree on a mandatory two-year suspension for a Class One doping offense, such as steroid use, the IOC is left with a loophole: “exceptional circumstances.”

Tennis knows about loopholes. The skinny Korda got through one.

He said he didn’t know how the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone got into his system at Wimbledon last year.

He received references from his former coach Tony Pickard and German star Boris Becker.

And, he is a really, really nice guy.

So now, what will get you off the hook in a tennis drug case? Does a personal plea from Billie Jean King or Chris Evert suffice? Would a letter from John McEnroe or Ilie Nastase hurt?

If Korda’s advisors were able to easily maneuver through the process--the ITF is appealing the latest ruling at the civil Court of Appeal in London--perhaps it is time for a speedy rewrite job on the exceptional circumstance clause.

“It’s fair to say we will see what CAS [Court of Arbitration for Sport] says on this appeal and, if necessary, we will have to look at tightening [the rule] up a little bit, if that’s necessary,” ITF President Brian Tobin said. “But we have got to find some way of [the rule] meeting our intent, you are right.”

The Korda case may never reach CAS in Lausanne, however.

“The intent of the rule is very much that the burden of proof is on the athlete to show how the substance got in his body . . . and then explain that he acted reasonably in all circumstances,” said Debbie Jevans, the ITF’s medical administrator. “I don’t think the intent [of the] rule is in any way just to say, ‘I don’t know,’ and this is the clear.”

Meanwhile, Korda is still able to play throughout the world, except in his native country, the Czech Republic. He was banned last week by the Czech Tennis Assn. from playing for a year.

It is not exactly a stiff punishment. He did not represent the Czech Republic in either of its two Davis Cup matches last year. On the ATP tour, there are two World Series events in the Czech Republic--one in Prague in the spring and one in Ostrava in October.

“This is a paradoxical situation,” Czech Tennis Assn. Chairman Karel Papousek told the Czech news agency CTK. “ITF has its own policy.”

“Our decision is based on the fact that we are signatories to the international agreements against doping.”

GAME OF CLUE

The news conference with champions Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova after the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open was a strange one, to say the least.

Hingis was being grilled about what she said--or didn’t say--about Amelie Mauresmo. She had denied describing Mauresmo as “half a man,” in her conversation with German reporters.

A WTA official interrupted twice and tried to cut off the questions on that issue, even telling Hingis: “Don’t answer, OK?”

Reporter: “She [Mauresmo] was a bit surprised and angry. She also said she was motivated for tomorrow [in the final] now.”

Hingis: “Well, so am I.”

Then attention swung back to Kournikova, who had thanked someone named “Mr. Fisher,” during the on-court awards ceremony. Speculation was that it was a code name for her sometime entourage member, Sergei Fedorov of the Red Wings.

“It’s just a friend of mine,” she said. “I thanked many people out there.”

Kournikova was asked if she was talking about pediatrician Pete Fischer, the former coach of Pete Sampras and Alexandra Stevenson. Fischer, serving a six-year sentence after pleading guilty to sexually molesting young male patients, is incarcerated in a California state prison.

“No, no, no,” said Kournikova, looking shocked. “It’s just a nickname of somebody. It’s nothing in particular.”

And so questions turned back to women’s doubles, much to the relief of jittery officials.

HONEST, JIM

Anti-drug crusader Jim Courier is the most honest player, well, this side of John McEnroe. So who better to ask whether McEnroe should be called on to play doubles for the United States in Davis Cup against Great Britain, as McEnroe claims he should. “No,” Courier said. “I love John. John is a friend of mind. Unless he comes back to the tour and proves he’s playing well, then he has a right to say that.

“His brother [Patrick] tells me he’s playing excellent tennis. Playing against those guys [on the senior tour] is quite different from playing a guy like Marat Safin.”