Tennis players shun Spanish doctor

PARIS (AP) - The owner of a leading tennis academy in Spain says its players have stopped consulting a sports doctor banned by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for his work with disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong.

Pancho Alvarino told The Associated Press the relationship between his TenisVal academy and doctor Luis Garcia del Moral "started approximately 14-15 years ago.''

USADA says del Moral helped implement a "team-wide doping program'' at Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service cycling squad. The agency in July handed the doctor a life ban from sports.

Alvarino, responding by email to questions from the AP, said del Moral "never'' helped TenisVal players dope. He said academy players paid the doctor's clinic directly to perform preseason blood tests and strength tests.

He added that TenisVal players no longer have "contact or any kind of relationship'' with del Moral.