Korda Situation Puts Drug Issue at Center Court

Petr Korda, a twiglike man, is hardly the vision of a prototype steroids abuser, leading to the easy, obvious jokes when it was revealed he had tested positive for the banned substance nandrolone at Wimbledon last year.

What were the steroids for? Extra height on his patented scissor-kicks?

The first reaction from the public--unfamiliar with the complete capacity of steroids in helping athletes recover from injuries--and the initial feeling of disbelief from the players has since been replaced by other emotions at the Australian Open.

Certainly, the first week was overwhelmingly contentious. Off the court, Korda came under fire from former No. 1 Jim Courier, an anti-drug crusader, and two-time U.S. Open champion Patrick Rafter, as well as other players. On the court, the defending champion was loudly heckled during his second-round match by a fan who asked what he was taking this week, then was ousted by American Todd Martin today.

There has been a key difference from last summer’s much bigger sports drug scandal. Unlike the cyclists in the disastrous Tour de France--who circled the wagons in support of the athletes under scrutiny--the players have been outspoken against Korda’s participation at the Open.

If Korda is under scrutiny, tennis is under a microscope as it grapples with its first major steroids case, and by some accounts, it is coming up short with a spate of unforced errors. The days leading up to the Open were dominated by the Korda controversy, and 20 to 30 top male players walked out of a pre-tournament ATP meeting in disgust because they felt their questions weren’t being answered, according to British star Greg Rusedski.

That protest was nothing compared to the second day of the Open. In the space of a few hours, Courier implied that some of the players on the tour were blood doping and/or using EPO, the synthetic drug used to improve aerobic capacity.

He didn’t name names or offer proof, but the accusation enraged another former No. 1 player, Thomas Muster of Austria, who lashed out at Courier and attacked the ATP and its chief executive officer, Mark Miles, calling him a weak leader on the drug issue as well as other matters.

Muster said that when he was accused of taking drugs several years ago, he got no support from the ATP. Said Miles: “Thomas and I have had differences of opinion in the past, so [his statements] are probably not unique.”

Courier later said his comments may have been “ill-timed,” and that he wasn’t accusing Europeans on the tour of using banned methods. Nevertheless, he stood by the statements. But women’s No. 1 Lindsay Davenport said Courier had a good point in regard to his suspicions.

“I have never seen anybody, like, shoot up or anything,” said Davenport, who estimated she was tested eight times in 1998, including five times at Grand Slam events, in which players are tested from the quarterfinals on.

“There are some people who are running with no problem at 8-8 in the fifth [set] and some men you watch play are not even winded after running for five hours.

“It’s a guess. You can just see some people are superhuman out there.”

What galvanized the players was the December decision of the International Tennis Federation’s independent appeals committee not to invoke the one-year automatic ban against Korda, simply choosing to revoke his Wimbledon prize money and computer points.

Korda, of the Czech Republic, said he was unaware he took the steroid. The committee cited “exceptional circumstances,” in deciding not to suspend Korda. There has been no additional scientific evidence to back up the decision of the committee.

In the aftermath of the player criticism, the ITF appealed the decision to the International Olympic Committee’s Court of Arbitration for Sport [CAS] in Lausanne, Switzerland. Korda, however, responded by seeking a high court injunction in Great Britain to halt the ITF’s move.

The greater issue concerning the players is the potential for a precedent-setting outcome: that an I-don’t-know-how-it-got-there answer is enough to escape a yearlong suspension.

“It’s too bad, because we’ve been warning them it is coming for a long time,” Jeff Tarango said. “They should have been ready. They’re not ready. I don’t think they are policing the drugs very well. They do absolutely the minimum. If they did more, they would probably catch more guys. They should be testing more guys, and it shouldn’t be random. Anybody who is off [the tour] for more than a month should be tested. There’s no question in my mind.

“But do they want to catch anybody? Apparently not.”

Miles said last week that among the top 10 singles and doubles players on the ATP Tour, none of them was tested fewer than three times last year. The top player in the world, Pete Sampras, was tested eight times in 1998, Miles said.

ITF President Brian Tobin said he does not think the Korda case reflects poorly on the sport of tennis.

“I believe the sport is very, very clean, relative to sports generally,” he said. “. . . It’s a nice controversial subject, but I cannot accept the fact that tennis is being killed or damaged by cheating and drugs, because it is very isolated, and I think we have kept a pretty strong foot on that, by education, and by control.”

Before the Korda controversy, tennis was attacked by other sporting organizations in November for not immediately supporting a proposed IOC medical code, which would increase the minimum penalty for a class one substance from one to two years.

Tobin said he did not want to make a move without consulting the ATP and WTA tours.

“Within days, I think about three, of that meeting, Brian [Tobin] and I had the opportunity to meet with [IOC President] Juan Antonio Samaranch, and we expressed our view it was appropriate, and our conviction the players would support that,” Miles said. “Not surprisingly, without any considerable debate, the players were happy to support that change.”

Davenport believes the explosive case, as controversial as it has been, will pay off in the future.

“Players have known it’s probably been around in tennis for a little while, but it’s just been quieter,” she said. “Obviously, Petr Korda’s case, however tragic it is, whether it’s true or untrue, it’s going to really put drugs in tennis in a whole new light.

“Players want to know it’s fair, to know everyone is on equal footing. And if this is what it takes to do it, I think players want it to happen now, rather [than] five or 10 years from now.

“I just never would have guessed it would be Petr Korda bringing it to the public.”