Korda vows to play on
Posted: Saturday January 09, 1999 09:58 AM
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Korda says he doesn't think the drug scandal has affected his game AP |
MELBOURNE (Reuters) -- Australian Open champion Petr Korda fended off questions on Saturday about his positive test for steroids at Wimbledon last year but said he wanted to play on through 1999.
Korda arrived in Melbourne overnight as a groundswell of concern grew among players over his lenient treatment. Some have called for the Czech to be banned at least until the full circumstances of his positive test are known.
The ATP is to hold a players' meeting next Saturday to discuss the issue.
Korda indicated at the Qatar Open last week that he might be considering his tennis future, saying that he wanted "to sleep on it" after losing in the first round to little-known Moroccan Karim Alami in Doha.
"I want to play, I want to fulfil the whole year," Korda told Channel Seven television after a practice session in Melbourne.
"There were some bad times, there were some good times but I am here to play tennis.
"I don't think it has affected my tennis at all."
However, Korda refused to answer when asked about the reaction of some players to his positive drug test.
"That is not a tennis question," Korda said.
He tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone at Wimbledon and was stripped of the ranking points he earned plus the $94,529 prize money he won for reaching the quarterfinals.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) Appeals Committee stopped short of sentencing Korda to the mandatory one-year ban under its own anti-doping rules because it believed he did not knowingly take the drug.
The ITF said on Thursday it would appeal against the penalty imposed on Korda by the independant body which it appointed.
Korda has denied knowingly taking the steroid since his positive test was announced on December 22.
While some Australian media on Saturday reported talk of a possible player boycott of the Australian Open, Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard said there was no need for such drastic action.
"We're concerned at this point for the game of tennis that this has happened but I don't think it can or should have any effect on the Australian Open," Pollard told reporters at the women's hardcourt titles on the Gold Coast.
"I don't see any cause, any reason, any logic behind any such action [by the players]. I've heard that they would like to have it discussed at a players' meeting," he said.
In the past week several players including Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman and women's number one Lindsay Davenport have expressed concern over Korda's drugs case and subsequent lenient penalty.
On Saturday, Australia's Jason Stoltenberg said many players were upset by the Korda case but doubted extreme action would be taken at Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, which starts in Melbourne on January 18.
"I can't see that happening but I know the players are pretty angry about it. They don't really want him to play," Stoltenberg told reporters in Adelaide.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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