Victor Conte and doping in tennis

[va-mos]

Victor Conte served time in prison in 2005 for the illegal distribution of steroids and money laundering. He was interviewed recently and mentioned the following athletes:

Usain Bolt
Marian jones
Barry Bonds
Lance Armstrong
Ivan Lendl
Greg Rusedski
Michael Chang
Maria Sharapova

And here is a link to his interview:
http://vimeo.com/51662984

[Doctor MJ]

I'm never sure what to believe with stuff like this. I'm not going to damn anyone just based on this, but speaking to the tennis payers involved, obviously one name there is FAR more important than the rest, and it would be very, very easy to believe that Lendl doped. He's THE example of a male tennis player peaking late with strength & fitness edges over his opponents that he didn't have previously. If this holds up, it would very much change my assessment on Lendl.

(Worth noting that there's one example even more obvious on the women's side: Navratilova. If something were to come out about her beyond rumors, it would be an absolute bombshell.)

The other people though, if they did dope, it doesn't seem nearly as damning:

Chang & Sharapova hit their peak coming out of nowhere as teenagers. Hard to imagine 'roids being responsible for that kind of career arc unless they stopped doping after the success (unlikely). So if they did start doping later, it was probably in response to the struggles they were having with their body, and as we know, the results weren't exactly jaw-dropping.

Rusedski's inclusion on the list interesting because he himself is so uninteresting. A minor player who did test positive back when he played, it seems like he was included just to make the list look more credible.

[UGA Hayes]

I don't agree with you on Chang. While he struggled closing the deal in his career he made it far in a lot of tournaments esp. considering how untalented he was outside of his scrambling ability. He had some pretty hard to believe stamina and physically looked unnaturally big especilly his legs. Plus his Mom was reputed to be a win at all costs type. Honestly the more that comes out the more I start to believe way more athletes then we ever realized were doing some kind of performance enhancing drugs.

[Doctor MJ]

I don't agree with you on Chang. While he struggled closing the deal in his career he made it far in a lot of tournaments esp. considering how untalented he was outside of his scrambling ability. He had some pretty hard to believe stamina and physically looked unnaturally big especilly his legs. Plus his Mom was reputed to be a win at all costs type. Honestly the more that comes out the more I start to believe way more athletes then we ever realized were doing some kind of performance enhancing drugs.

I don't know if I'm so much saying I don't believe Chang doped as much as it doesn't seem very important. Bottom line with Chang is that nobody is talking about him at this late date if he doesn't win a major at age 17, and it's hard to imagine that win was the result of steroids. Not saying the dude should be immune from judgment if he's guilty, just saying I'm yawning.

And my point is really the list includes a bunch of yawns and IVAN FREAKING LENDL. It's not impossible for that to be true by any means, but it is a little weird.

[Slava]

There's actually quite a lot of rumors on a lot of sports forums about Djokovic being a possible candidate and if he's just too good to be true. His recovery time is physically amazing for an athlete in any sport, especially with the kind of consistency he has in terms of athleticism over really long games. Add to the fact that he rarely ever gets injured.

I hope the game is clean but I've become a big fan of Djokovic over the years and I hope he's just re-writing the game in terms of athletic performance in a legal, natural manner.

[UGA Hayes]

^ I hope not. I remember some fuss over some kind of oxygen chamber type thing he was using. His family strikes me as pretty win at all costs though.

[Slava]

Somehow I wouldn't be surprised if Sharapova is caught!

[Dr Positivity]

Well, Serena is an obvious candidate, to the point where if it came out, people would eventually talk about her like Bonds, McGuire, etc. in a "Wow, we *really* should've seen that earlier..." way

I couldn't think of anything more devastating than if this great era got stained by drugs and if we found out it's behind Nadal, Djokovic, Murray superhuman athleticism. SMH

[va-mos]

Well, Serena is an obvious candidate, to the point where if it came out, people would eventually talk about her like Bonds, McGuire, etc. in a "Wow, we *really* should've seen that earlier..." way

I couldn't think of anything more devastating than if this great era got stained by drugs and if we found out it's behind Nadal, Djokovic, Murray superhuman athleticism. SMH

Murray, Nadal and Djokovic's athleticism/flexibility isn't something a drug can create. Endurance whereas, a drug can create. The king of endurance over a match is Djokovic and the king of endurance over a season is Federer.

Djokovic is virtually unbeatable over 5 sets (except for last year's US Open final when the extreme wind conditions played havoc with his game, and suited Murray more). The only way to beat Djokovic at a slam is to beat him in 4 sets, as Nadal did at Roland Garros last year, and Federer did at Wimbledon. And that Roland Garros final was played over 2 days, even more beneficial for Nadal. Of course, Djokovic's unmatched endurance only began in 2011. Prior to that he was leading the tour in retirements per year.

And Federer at age 30 was able to win 26 straight matches from late 2011 to early 2012. And this is not uncommon throughout his career. Despite playing most of his points from the back of the court, and despite playing more matches than 99% of the tour (he goes deep into every event), he has managed to outlast the entire tour every year and never runs out of "go" after the US Open (unlike most).



Here are Nadal's thoughts on doping-

http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2013/02/ ... Q2Rc6VEEpg

Nadal hasn't played since losing in the second round to Czech Lukas Rosol at Wimbledon in June.

The 26-year-old Spaniard said he'd passed six blood and urine doping tests since then. In the wake of cyclist Lance Armstrong's doping admission, Nadal said he supports strict controls to keep tennis clean.

"Above all, the sport must be clean. We must have certainty that the rival in front is as clean as I am," he said. "I don't have any problem with having controls every week to combat what has happened in other sports. Tennis continues to be a clean sport as it has been throughout its history."



http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news ... says-nadal

Rafael Nadal believes that the names of those implicated in the ongoing "Operation Puerto" trial into blood doping must be provided if the image of sportsmen and women in general is to be cleared up.

In an interview with the French sports daily L'Equipe published on Thursday, the Spanish tennis star said he felt his reputation, and that of Spanish sport as a whole, had been tarnished by the trial.

A judge has refused to demand that doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, the suspected mastermind of one of the sporting world's biggest blood doping rackets, provide the names of athletes implicated in the scandal.

The ruling could avert a huge fall-out from the high-profile trial in Madrid but Nadal said that naming names would have been the correct thing to do.

"What is happening in Spain, I don't understand it," he was quoted as saying. "I don't understand why doctor Fuentes is not giving names. And I don't understand why the judge has not asked him to do so.

"I don't understand why we never get to the bottom of these things. We need to clean everything up. I believe this doctor has worked with foreign athletes but because he is Spanish it is Spanish sport that is being prejudiced.

"As an athlete that hurts me. Because of people like (US cyclist Lance) Armstrong, we all have a dubious image."

[Doctor MJ]

Well, Serena is an obvious candidate, to the point where if it came out, people would eventually talk about her like Bonds, McGuire, etc. in a "Wow, we *really* should've seen that earlier..." way

I couldn't think of anything more devastating than if this great era got stained by drugs and if we found out it's behind Nadal, Djokovic, Murray superhuman athleticism. SMH

I'm not sure how I'd feel if Serena was exposed. I mean, it would certainly make her miraculous comebacks less miraculous, but I really can't imagine here clear physical superiority over everyone else is a result of her having down steroids while others didn't.

Quite frankly, and I say this as a fan of Henin, I would consider it a lot more damning if someone like Henin was exposed. Toward the end of her run of dominance she seemed to be as powerful as any of the other major contenders, which was pretty bizarre given her slight frame.

[Doctor MJ]

There's actually quite a lot of rumors on a lot of sports forums about Djokovic being a possible candidate and if he's just too good to be true. His recovery time is physically amazing for an athlete in any sport, especially with the kind of consistency he has in terms of athleticism over really long games. Add to the fact that he rarely ever gets injured.

I hope the game is clean but I've become a big fan of Djokovic over the years and I hope he's just re-writing the game in terms of athletic performance in a legal, natural manner.

Djokovic is also a concern given how he took that big step up so deep into his career. In a normal sport at least, that would be a red flag. I'm definitely inclined to say innocent until proven guilty though. Tennis is such a mental sport that it's really completely believable to see a breakthrough like that.

[Slava]

I don't even want to imagine the terrible repercussions if Serena is ever found involved with PEDs, she was afforded all the arrogance in the world just because of her sheer ability.

There's just far too many people in tennis that just despise her and she's never been very gracious to fellow pros at any time in her career.

[Doctor MJ]

I don't even want to imagine the terrible repercussions if Serena is ever found involved with PEDs, she was afforded all the arrogance in the world just because of her sheer ability.

There's just far too many people in tennis that just despise her and she's never been very gracious to fellow pros at any time in her career.

I don't really think she's been "afforded" arrogance though. A lot of us already dislike her because she's an arrogant jerk so immature that her mother has commented with embarrassent on it. I suppose there are some people who would have their mind switched by this, and sure there would be some who write negatively about all this, but in the end she's still be a legendary athlete who isn't a full on icon because of her behavior.

[UGA Hayes]

There's actually quite a lot of rumors on a lot of sports forums about Djokovic being a possible candidate and if he's just too good to be true. His recovery time is physically amazing for an athlete in any sport, especially with the kind of consistency he has in terms of athleticism over really long games. Add to the fact that he rarely ever gets injured.

I hope the game is clean but I've become a big fan of Djokovic over the years and I hope he's just re-writing the game in terms of athletic performance in a legal, natural manner.

Djokovic is also a concern given how he took that big step up so deep into his career. In a normal sport at least, that would be a red flag. I'm definitely inclined to say innocent until proven guilty though. Tennis is such a mental sport that it's really completely believable to see a breakthrough like that.

It depends what you mean by big step up though. I was always under the impression that he was considered one of the candidates to become elite. I still remember him and Roddick having hissy fits at each other as teenagers and there seemed to be a consensus that they were both players to pay close attention too. But it definitely shock me if D-joke was doing it, mostly b/c his parents give off a super creepy vibe.

[Doctor MJ]

It depends what you mean by big step up though. I was always under the impression that he was considered one of the candidates to become elite. I still remember him and Roddick having hissy fits at each other as teenagers and there seemed to be a consensus that they were both players to pay close attention too. But it definitely shock me if D-joke was doing it, mostly b/c his parents give off a super creepy vibe.

Djokovic's step up is pretty similar to the step up that Bonds made in scale. It's definitely worth a look, but for the reasons stated, I'm definitely giving him the benefit of the doubt.

One note, the "as teenagers" comment is definitely off. Roddick is half a decade older than Djokovic. There was drama between the two, but it was a post-pinnacle Roddick involved and iirc he wasn't having anything like a hissy fit. Djokovic though, was most definitely of hissy fitting to a degree.

[UGA Hayes]

You are right about the age but I seem to remember a non major hadrcourt tourny where Roddick lost his temper and that it was just when Djokavic was coming on the scene. Maybe it the other way around and D-joke was the one who lost his temper but I don't think so. I'm not talking about the infamous 2008 US open incident either.

[Rich Rane]

As a boxing fan, Victor Conte's name is notorious in the sport when it comes to drug testing so any person he lists should be given a hard glance (think Jose Conseco for baseball). That said, I still usually push myself towards the athletes' sides unless there's concrete evidence or an admission.