In light of Maria Sharapova scandal, tennis should deploy a ‘quality over quantity’ doping system

Ahmed Rizvi looks at the way doping is being handled by tennis authorities and argues why a better quality system would work in favour of a more widespread testing.

A rocky start to 2016 for professional tennis has been highlighted by the failed doping test of Maria Sharapova. Gonzalo Fuentes / Reuters

This has been an awkward year for tennis, a distant cry from a euphoric 2015, when we celebrated Novak Djokovic’s exceptional season and cheered Serena Williams through her eventually unsuccessful bid to become the first woman since Steffi Graf to win all four majors in the same year.

This year, however, we started with allegations of match fixing and then last week, Raymond Moore, the chief executive of Indian Wells, was forced to step down following the outrage over sexist remarks.

The biggest shock, however, was Maria Sharapova’s positive dope test; it has opened up a Pandora’s box. Roger Federer, like almost everyone else, was asked about the issue as well in Miami and the Swiss, who has been consistently asking for more tests, reiterated his stance.

“I’ve been in Dubai now for 10 years and been tested once,” Federer said.

“That’s not OK for me. I get tested more in Switzerland because the guy from Switzerland lives in my village.”

Ahmed Rizvi: Novak Djokovic, master of Masters, no more has a rival in Federer, Nadal or Murray

Federer, who does not believe doping is a “major problem” in tennis, also suggested the authorities should store “blood samples for 10 years” and punish cheats “retroactively” if necessary.

The problem, though, is how many other top players will agree with Federer?

In 2009, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams were among a trio of top stars to go public with their criticism of the then new anti-doping procedures, which required a player to let drug-testers know their whereabouts for a period of one hour on every day of the week.

Nadal said the new rules made players feel “like a criminal”, Murray described the measures as “draconian”, Williams called them bizarre.

According to the International Tennis Federation (ITF) data, the 21-time grand slam winner did not take any out-of-competition test in 2010 and 2011 and once locked herself in her Los Angeles home’s panic room thinking a drug tester outside was an intruder.

Murray and Nadal seem to have changed their opinion since, but does more vigorous testing really guarantee anything? Lance Armstrong was the most tested athlete on earth and he never failed a drug test, according to the disgraced American cyclist.

So the ITF, as their president David Haggerty said in an interview with the Associated Press last week, is trying to focus on the “quality” of testing and not “quantity”, and that perhaps is the better way to go.​

THIS WEEK IN TENNIS

Disappointment for Federer fans

There was much celebration when Federer announced his decision to make an earlier-than-anticipated return at Miami following an arthroscopic knee surgery. A stomach bug, however, forced the Swiss to pull out ahead of his clash with Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro. His fans will certainly be disappointed, but they will be hoping he returns in better shape for the European clay court season. The question is, how rusty will he be after his long break since Australia?

Nadal’s rally cut short

The Spaniard might have lost in straight sets to Novak Djokovic in the Indian Wells semi-final, but he was certainly looking good over the two weeks, gaining confidence after victories over the likes of world No 6 Kei Nishikori and highly-rated youngster Alexander Zverev. Nadal must have been gunning to get back on court in Miami this week. Alas, like Federer, illness has robbed the tournament of another superstar. The good news is, the clay court season starts in a just over a week and Nadal fans will be hoping he can continue his recovery in Europe.

Kerber finally gets a win

A surprise Australia Open champion, Angelique Kerber had lost both her WTA Tour matches since, in Doha and Indian Wells. Finally, she has a win. Rather two. The German started her campaign in Miami with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Dubai finalist Barbora Strycova, and then fought back against Dutch qualifier Kiki Bertens after losing the first set 1-6, to force a decider before her opponent, 0-3 down in the third, retired due to illness.

Wawrinka’s Miami curse

Every player seems to have a tournament or two where they just seem to struggle and for Stan Wawrinka, Miami is that event. Before this year, he had made seven appearance at the tournament, but could never progress beyond the round of 16 and his win-loss record in Miami was 7-7. That record has now changed to 7-8 after the Swiss lost 6-4, 6-3 to Russian world No 51 Andrey Kuznetsov.

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