Alexander Zverev has given a graphic insight into the process behind the drug testing procedures in tennis, as he suggested the entire process is \u2018annoying\u2019.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s Rome Masters.<\/p>\n
Now Zverev has opened up on his feelings around the doping control procedures in tennis, as he openly expressed his frustrations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just a subject that we\u2019ve 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,\u201d Zverev said ahead of his first match at the Madrid Open.<\/p>\n
Row erupts over anti-doping \u2018chaperone\u2019 watching tennis players as they shower after a match<\/a><\/p>\n What happened after Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek\u2019s failed drug tests? Full explainer<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt 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\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Zverev went on to outline his own experience, as he suggested the doping control officers affected him colllecting his three-year-old child.<\/p>\n \u201cIt 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,\u201d he reflected.<\/p>\n \u201cThey call me, like, You have to come back. I\u2019m like, I can\u2019t, I\u2019m picking up a three-year-old child. They\u2019re like, No, you have to come back, doesn\u2019t matter what happens.<\/p>\n \u201cSo that is more annoying, because it\u2019s kind of they\u2019re taking the freedom of life away a little bit. Okay, if you want to come within the hour, that\u2019s fine, because that\u2019s the rule. But then after that, you have to give us the freedom of living.<\/p>\n \u201cJust because you decided that you want to show up at a random time and not at the time slot that you are given doesn\u2019t mean that I have to completely change my plans and leave everything and all of a sudden be available to you. That\u2019s not right, in my opinion, right.<\/p>\n \u201cAlso, let\u2019s say you\u2019re out with your friends, right? I mean, we\u2019re home, what? Five weeks a year maximum?<\/p>\n \u201cOn those five weeks, if we\u2019re going out for one night, if you\u2019re 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\u2019s something that is just not right to me, because we don\u2019t have time at home.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, if you want to come at the right time, that\u2019s fine. But if you want to just completely mess with our lives, then that\u2019s not fine, in my opinion.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I said, if I pick my daughter up from the airport, that is more important to me, right, and that\u2019s, 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\u2019s wrong. That system can be better, and that system can change a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about getting the right balance. You don\u2019t want them to be fearful, but you do want them to be mindful,\u201d Moorhouse told Tennis365 in an exclusive interview.<\/p>\n \u201cThe anti-doping code places significant responsibilities on players. It requires you to take steps to make sure you don\u2019t breach it.<\/p>\n \u201cIf 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are updates to the WADA prohibited list every year and they don\u2019t tend to be fundamental changes. The list has been in place for some time now.<\/p>\n \u201cWe send out those changes in December and we make sure we make every effort to ensure the players are aware of that list.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a strict liability principle that an athlete is responsible for what is in their body, so once you get a positive test, it\u2019s up to the athlete to explain why.<\/p>\n \u201cOur 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.\u201d<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek failed drug tests should not \u2018strike fear\u2019 into tennis players<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Alexander Zverev finds an interesting word to describe tennis drug testers<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alexander Zverev has given a graphic insight into the process behind the drug testing procedures in tennis, as he suggested the entire process is \u2018annoying\u2019. 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}