Growing rift
Korda drug flap volleys across tennis
Posted: Tuesday January 19, 1999 11:06 PM
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Korda (above) beat Galo Blanco in the first round of the Australian Open, but after the match the Spaniard wouldn't shake Korda's hand AP |
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- The country-club chumminess of men's tennis is dissolving into a den of dissension, with players lobbing charges at each other amid calls for stronger drug rules and a change in ATP Tour leadership.
An already foul mood among the players at the start of the Australian Open, touched off by the Petr Korda drug controversy, turned downright nasty Tuesday when Jim Courier alleged many players, especially Europeans, may be guilty of blood doping.
Austria's Thomas Muster challenged Courier to name names, then assailed ATP Tour chief executive officer Mark Miles for his "very weak" leadership on the drug issue.
Korda kept his silence on the "exceptional circumstances" that allowed him to escape a one-year suspension when he appealed his positive test for the anabolic steroid Nandrolone at Wimbledon last year.
But the man Korda beat in the first round, Spain's Galo Blanco, accused the Czech of lying and faking a sprained ankle to take a rest during the third set of their five-setter. Blanco refused to offer the customary handshake after the match.
"I couldn't trust Korda," Blanco said, "so I didn't want to shake his hand."
Andre Agassi, for one, wanted Korda to explain the reasons he gave the appeals panel when he asked for leniency.
"I wish everybody could know his innocence or his guilt," Agassi said. "I don't think anybody appreciates the confusion in it. We have rules in our sport that need to be enforced and respected. I don't think it's healthy for the game when players don't have the security that the rules are being properly enforced."
Courier hit a nerve with everyone when he charged that blood doping may be more prevalent in tennis than steroid use.
"I don't have a great suspicion of steroid use among players," Courier said. "I'm much more inclined to have a concern for something that we cannot test for under the current system, which is blood doping."
Blood doping, the withdrawal and reintroduction of an athlete's own blood to boost oxygen in red cells and enhance performance, has been associated more with endurance sports like cycling in the Tour de France.
Certain drugs, notably erythropoietin (EPO), produce the same effect and have been widely used by cyclists. Now, Courier believes, some European tennis players are taking EPO and eluding detection in urine tests because it is a naturally occurring substance.
"I mean when almost half of the Tour de France last year was booted out for doing that type of nonsense, it's clearly prevalent in European sports. And most of our tour is in Europe.
"By deduction -- and I'm throwing darts, I have no proof, I can't name names, I wouldn't bother naming names -- but it just seems a logical way for a player to improve himself. I'll be pretty [ticked] off in 10 years if I find people were doing that and I was losing to them."
That kind of dart-throwing brought an angry response from Muster.
"I think we are pretty much on the edge of destroying the sport by making comments like that," Muster said. "If you don't have proof, you shouldn't say things like this."
ATP Players Council president Todd Martin doubted blood doping or the use of EPO were common in tennis.
"Maybe I'm a little naive. I hope it is not widespread," Martin said. "Until it can be proven that it is widespread, I am going to give the guys the benefit of the doubt."
He acknowledged, though, that players were talking about the possibility of introducing blood testing in addition to urinalysis in an effort to clamp down on all forms of drug use.
"I think it would be great if we had blood tests three or four times a year," said Britain's Greg Rusedski, "because the problems are EPO and growth hormone and stuff like that, which can't really be detected with urine tests."
Muster laid much of the blame on the ATP Tour leadership. Korda never should have been allowed to compete in any tournament after he tested positive, Muster said, and should be forced to sit out until his appeal is finally resolved by the Committee for Arbitration in Sport in Switzerland.
"The way this whole thing is being handled is pretty weak, and the way the ATP meeting [Saturday night] went was very weak," Muster said. "I lost all belief that we have someone behind the players."
Muster made it clear that he was talking about Miles, who has been CEO of the tour since 1990.
The Florida-based ATP Tour, Muster said, is "a big company where the left doesn't know what the right does. ... I have been in the council, I have been at meetings, and it's shocking. That's why I am not on the council anymore."
Muster criticized Miles for jumping around on issues, from on-court coaching and player conduct to shifting relations with the International Tennis Federation.
"There are so many things which are ridiculous at the moment," Muster said. "I just don't understand it."
Miles shrugged off Muster's personal attack.
"Thomas and I have had differences of opinion in the past, so it's probably not unique," he said. "I share the players' frustration at what appears to be a flawed judgment by the appeal panel."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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