Tennis Is Put on Defensive

Officials from the WTA Tour and International Tennis Federation denounced recent comments made by a top Australian drug testing official that the sport is “heavily under the influence of doping” and that its anti-doping program is “a dud.”

Kevin Wulff, the WTA’s chief executive officer, demanded a retraction and an apology from John Mendoza, executive director of the Australian Sports Drug Agency. Said Wulff: “We categorically reject the claim that the success or physical condition of women’s tennis players today is proof of rampant drug use.”

ITF president Francesco Ricci Bitti said on Friday that the “remarks were not only inaccurate and inappropriate but also defamatory to our sport.”

Mendoza, who has been with the Canberra-based agency since 1996, likened the current situation in tennis to the one swimming was facing at the 1994 World Championships in Rome, and cycling shortly before the drug arrests at the Tour de France in 1998.

“In 1994 it was self-evident that doping had taken over women’s swimming,” he told The Australian newspaper in Friday’s editions. “What Australian parent would want their daughter going into tennis? If you want to be No. 1 in the world in women’s tennis you are going to have to be abnormal in body physique.”

Mendoza did not provide evidence to support his contentions. Preliminary tests showed that two unidentified players tested positive at the recent French Open, but the substances were reported to be a banned stimulant and an anesthetic. The information was released this week by the French agency, the Council to Prevent and Fight against Doping, and the B sample had yet to be tested. L’Equipe, the French sports daily, reported that one of the positive tests was from a female, the other from a male.

The issue of drugs in tennis came under sharper scrutiny at Wimbledon. John McEnroe’s ex-wife Tatum O’Neal alleged that he used steroids late in his playing career. McEnroe refused to respond to that allegation when questioned about it during Wimbledon.

Also, two leading players, Venus Williams and Jennifer Capriati, objected at Wimbledon to the WTA’s plan to start unannounced, out-of-competition drug testing, calling it an invasion of privacy.

The WTA said Friday that every player ranked in the top 20 was tested at least once in 2001, some as many as eight times. The total number of tests was 318, a tour official said. The ATP, which runs the men’s tour, conducted 50 tests out of competition last year and plans to double that number this year.

Mendoza was critical of the ITF’s efforts, telling The Australian: “More than half the tests are done at the Grand Slams so the players know when they will be tested.

“There are smart short-acting steroids which can be combined with growth hormone so the athlete can be on them three days before competition and then test clean. No-notice out-of-competition testing is the only true deterrent, and 50 tests is nonsense.”