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'This is sick'

Bjorkman slams Korda, ITF over drugs

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Posted: Wednesday January 06, 1999 11:22 PM

Jonas Bjorkman: "It is better to be honest and say that, 'Yes, I am sorry I did that' and then that is it" Gary M. Prior/Allsport

PERTH, Australia (AP) -- Swedish player Jonas Bjorkman called for Petr Korda to be banned and says the International Tennis Federation is scared of confronting the drug issue.

Korda had his ranking points and prize money stripped after testing positive for the banned steroid Nandrolone at Wimbledon last July.

The ITF accepted Korda's argument that he took the drug inadvertently, but Bjorkman on Wednesday called the ITF decision "totally the worst that could happen for tennis."

Bjorkman said he believed the world's leading players should pressure the ITF and men's ATP tour to ban Korda.

"We've heard so many things that guys are positive and they just cover it -- they are just so scared of putting it out," Bjorkman said. "If you cheat, you should be suspended for two, three, four, five years.

"This is steroids and you take them or not. There is no one that is just going to put them into you."

Korda beat Marcelo Rios to win last year's Australian Open, his first Grand Slam title, and reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon but was later stripped of 199 rankings points and $94,529 in prize money.

"I think this is sick," Bjorkman said. "It is a sick decision to just make him pay back the money and lose the points.

"He played his best tennis all the way up to Wimbledon and then he was gone."

The Swede became the second player this week to challenge the ITF's handling of the Korda case.

On Monday, former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek also urged his fellow players to seek an explanation from the ITF about why Korda was not banned.

Korda has raised some doubts about whether he will play this year's Australian Open. Bjorkman called it a ploy to generate sympathy.

"He is trying to get people to feel bad for him. I think this is the worst he can do," Bjorkman said. "It is better to be honest and say that, 'Yes, I am sorry I did that' and then that is it."

 

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