Alexander Zverev has given a graphic insight into the process behind the drug testing procedures in tennis, as he suggested the entire process is ‘annoying’.
The tennis doping set-up, overseen by the International Tennis Integrity Agency, has hit the news in the last year after both world No 1 Jannik Sinner and five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek posted positive doping tests.
The manner of how those positive results were handled has been the subject of intense discussion, with Sinner currently serving a three-month suspension that will allow him to return to action for next month’s Rome Masters.
Now Zverev has opened up on his feelings around the doping control procedures in tennis, as he openly expressed his frustrations.
“I think it’s just a subject that we’ve been talking about more over the last year, or not year, half a year or so, because of, obviously, Jannik and Iga a little bit. But, in general, nothing really changes for us, nothing changed,” Zverev said ahead of his first match at the Madrid Open.
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“It is an annoying process, I have to be to be honest, because we have to be at a certain place every single day where we kind of give our details of where we’re going to be for like an hour a day. But at the same time if they show up not in the hour that we gave them, you still have to come back to the place.”
Zverev went on to outline his own experience, as he suggested the doping control officers affected him colllecting his three-year-old child.
“It was end of last year or so in December, where I was, I think I was picking up my daughter from the airport in Nice, and then doping control, they, my slot is like at 7:00 or 8:00 a.m., right, and they came at 9:00pm,” he reflected.
“They call me, like, You have to come back. I’m like, I can’t, I’m picking up a three-year-old child. They’re like, No, you have to come back, doesn’t matter what happens.
“So that is more annoying, because it’s kind of they’re taking the freedom of life away a little bit. Okay, if you want to come within the hour, that’s fine, because that’s the rule. But then after that, you have to give us the freedom of living.
“Just because you decided that you want to show up at a random time and not at the time slot that you are given doesn’t mean that I have to completely change my plans and leave everything and all of a sudden be available to you. That’s not right, in my opinion, right.
“Also, let’s say you’re out with your friends, right? I mean, we’re home, what? Five weeks a year maximum?
“On those five weeks, if we’re going out for one night, if you’re with your friends, if you want to spend some time away, if you even want to have a nice romantic dinner with your wife or girlfriend or whatever, they can destroy that within a second. That’s something that is just not right to me, because we don’t have time at home.
“So, if you want to come at the right time, that’s fine. But if you want to just completely mess with our lives, then that’s not fine, in my opinion.
“As I said, if I pick my daughter up from the airport, that is more important to me, right, and that’s, that should be a priority to me. That system and that anti-doping system cannot decide for you that you have to leave everything and all of a sudden come back straight away. I think that’s wrong. That system can be better, and that system can change a little bit.”
ITIA CEO Karen Moorhouse spoke to Tennis365 in an exclusive interview, as she insisted her organisation are keen to work with players to ensure they are not fearful of the doping control procedures in tennis.
“It’s all about getting the right balance. You don’t want them to be fearful, but you do want them to be mindful,” Moorhouse told Tennis365 in an exclusive interview.
“The anti-doping code places significant responsibilities on players. It requires you to take steps to make sure you don’t breach it.
“If one outcome of the cases we have seen this year is it has made players sit up, pause and reflect on the supplements they are taking, whether they need to take those supplements and if there are better supplements they could be taking to protect themselves, then that is a good outcome from those cases.
“We don’t want players to be fearful, but we want them to be mindful of their obligations under the rules and we also want them to know who we are if they have any questions.
“There are updates to the WADA prohibited list every year and they don’t tend to be fundamental changes. The list has been in place for some time now.
“We send out those changes in December and we make sure we make every effort to ensure the players are aware of that list.
“There is a strict liability principle that an athlete is responsible for what is in their body, so once you get a positive test, it’s up to the athlete to explain why.
“Our focus is to continue to push education to the players and the support personnel around the player so that they can mitigate the risk they could be exposed to.”
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