The World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) recent amendments to their list of prohibited drugs in 2016 has released a storm of headlines concerning the International Tennis Federation (ITF). Tennis finds itself torn between justifying allegations made against top-tier athletes who are substance abusing and defending legitimate athletes’ performances and its sport’s reputation. The question is, does the negative air surrounding the sport detract from its longstanding healthy reputation? The Tennis Anti-Doping Programme case taken against Maria Sharapova has recently caught the media’s attention. Sharapova’s ITF drug tests and her public statement to confirm them both reveal that Sharapova has been taking ‘meldonium.’ Meldonium is a drug that – in its simplest form – enhances one’s stamina. Naturally, this is a performance enhancing drug in a sport where a single match in women’s tennis can last up to three or four hours.
Sharapova’s case has turned dark after her temporary suspension and since confidentiality rules regarding all Anti Doping Programmes (ADP) cases were initiated. So, for the time being, the Nike-sponsored Russian athlete’s future career remains uncertain. However, her case can be compared to many other doping accusations in the sporting industries. In Sharapova’s case, there are two main lines of argument. On the one hand, although meldonium was added to the prohibited list only this year, all athletes are notified of any changes before the release of the amended programme. Therefore, Sharapova was made aware of any doping offences she might incur in light of these changes and cannot feign ignorance of action without her – and her team – seeming incompetent regarding the ITF’s regulations.
On the other hand, Sharapova has been prescribed meldonium by her personal doctor for the past 10 years for a magnesium deficiency and familial diabetes. According to WADA: ‘Any prohibited substance by an athlete for medical reasons is possible by virtue of Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE)’ and so Sharapova’s drug test failure at the 2016 Australian Open may not be evidence enough to ban her from the sport entirely if the ITF rule in favour of TUE.
Herein lies the debate. Doping accusations are not taken lightly by any sporting industry. Especially with the epic downfall of Lance Armstrong and his career in 2012 still fresh in our minds. However, drug abuse and doping allegations are not new to tennis. It was only in 2013 that Croatian player Marin Cilic failed a drug test that caused him to drop out of Wimbledon under the pretence of injury. The minor enhancing glucose tablets cost him around 30 position points, a 9-month suspension from the sport (which was later reduced to 4 months) and a substantial amount of his winnings. Doping in tennis is not even limited to the twenty-first century. Former world No.1 from 1981-1985, John McEnroe, stated that for six years of his career he was unknowingly taking steroids and yet no actions were taken due to the athlete’s current retired status. It is clear that doping is an issue within tennis but the actions, intentional or not, are tarnishing the sport and the athletes whose talented performances are being brought into question as a consequence.
Substance abuse questions the integrity of professional athletes and slanders the name of any top-tier competitors, especially when the athlete doping is the previous world No.1, five-time grand slam champion, 35-singles title holder and Olympic silver medallist Sharapova. Naturally, the careers of other athletes, who equal and surpass her decorative career, suffer. So it is no wonder that Rafael Nadal is now seeking to clear his own name in light of doping accusations from a former health and sports minister and asking the ITF for publication of his own test results. When you’re a household name like Rafael Nadal and a substance abuse claim threatens to steal all of those victories and decades of hard training from you and the history books of the sport, you will become aggravated. Nadal’s call for the ITF to make his test results public is justifiable, considering the significant consequences it has had on many athletes in the same position. Regardless of the privacy Nadal and his fellow sportsmen and sportswomen are entitled to, these athletes are not willing to let rumours circulate and sacrifice everything they have worked for their entire lives, simply to maintain private medical documents. Sharapova’s indictment, intentional or not, has cast a shadow over the careers of her fellow sportsmen and sportswomen. However, Sharapova is not the only athlete under scrutiny from meldonium abuse. As of the beginning of April 2016, 27 Russian athletes have tested positive for meldonium. As a result of these findings, the Russian athletics federation has been suspended from participating in sporting events, including the 2016 Rio Olympics (unless a reinstatement is issued in May). Whether meldonium abuse is subject to a nation-wide Russian underhanded strategy or a coincidence amongst several individual athlete’s medical decisions, is not yet clear. One thing is for certain: meldonium has sparked a Russian doping scandal in the early months of 2016 and is tarnishing the names of many of its professional athletes.
Doping continues to be an issue, not just in tennis but in every sporting industry.
Edited by Sarah Holmes
Sources:
BBC Sport – Tennis: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis
WADA: http://list.wada-ama.org/
ITF – Anti-Doping: http://www.itftennis.com/antidoping/home.aspx
Images
QuadrupleBagel: http://www.quadruplebagel.com/2013_03_01_archive.html
TheStar.com: http://www.thestar.com/sports/tennis/2016/03/08/doping-scandal-costs-maria-sharapova-some-of-her-marketability.html
SportAnalisADaily.com: http://sport.analisadaily.com/read/nadal-minta-itf-publikasikan-hasil-tes-dopingnya/233197/2016/04/27
BT.com: http://home.bt.com/lifestyle/wellbeing/what-is-meldonium-and-what-does-it-treat-11364044911280