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Tennis' ruling body has been accused of going soft on doping, after a Mail on Sunday investigation found the International Tennis Federation lets the world's best players book their own drug tests.

Players were invited to secure time slots for blood-doping tests before this year's Miami Open, a method anti-doping experts say makes a 'huge difference' to cheats seeking to escape detection. . . .

Rob Parisotto, an Australian stem-cell scientist who pioneered the first test for EPO and was a member of cycling's expert ABP panel, says that the tennis authorities are potentially allowing cheats to escape detection by warning them they will have to provide a sample.

'The ITIA's statement is a remarkably egregious one,' Parisotto said. 'It does make a huge difference if testing is known in advance with regards to blood doping. A three- to four-day window before a tournament would be the ideal period to "top up" your blood volume to maximise oxygen-carrying capacity and therefore improve endurance and recovery capabilities.'

During the US Anti-Doping Agency's investigation into systematic doping by Armstrong, the cyclist's US Postal team-mates admitted they regularly manipulated their blood parameters using saline infusions when they knew they would be drug tested. . . .

The ITF has also been accused of inflating its testing figures after it emerged that they count every sample taken during an individual doping control as a separate test. If a player submits blood, urine and blood-passport samples at the same time, it is counted as three tests rather than one.

The ITF's own official documents list these figures under 'tests per player', and not 'samples per player'. The testing data which The Mail on Sunday obtained for one Russian player, for example, who has been ranked in the top 20, shows that they were tested three times out of competition [in] 2015. The ITF's official figures state they underwent at least seven.

“At Roland Garros, there was a COVID-19 epidemic, no one talked about it,” she told L’Equipe. “In the locker room, everyone got it and we said nothing...”

“It was a tacit agreement between us. We are not going to self-test to get into trouble!"

Two ATP champions have revealed that the grass courts of 2022 Wimbledon have been altered to play slow.

Nick Kyrgios and Reilly Opelka both won their first round matches, but both said in their Wimbledon press conferences that the Wimbledon grass courts are playing noticeably slower this year.

Kyrgios said: “Why is it slow? This is grass. There shouldn’t be rallies on grass. My God, stop slowing it down.”

Opelka said: “The grass is no longer for the servers. They have slowed it down too much.”

Exactly why this court speed alteration has been made is impossible to say with certainty, until hopefully the tournament director Jamie Baker will perhaps address the controversial decision on the record with the media.

But the natural, first inclination is to suspect the tennis deep state is behind this change, with, of course, the intention to assist Rafael Nadal to win his 23rd Grand Slam title.

But you do still have time to get vaccinated before New York to make it in time for the US.  Is that something you've completely closed your mind to as an option going forward, or...

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yes.

Orthopedists: no Miler-Vajs syndrome, no necrosis

According to Zidojče cajtung, two orthopedists from Germany are very skeptical about Rafael Nadal's foot injury. He won the Roland Garos with a dead nerve in the foot of his left leg, until he then had to undergo a treatment that would permanently deaden his nerve. . . .

Nadal does not look back on this and constantly insists that every tournament could be his last and that everything depends on the foot that has been bothering him for years. After winning the Roland Garos, he said he would prefer a new foot to a new Grand Slam title.

Zidojce cajtunga journalist Verner Bartens has spoken to German orthopaedists who are skeptical about Rafael Nadal's diagnosis. He is diagnosed with Miler-Vajs syndrome.

"This pain and top sport cannot go hand in hand. I don't think he has necrosis . . . of the bones, because this pain is progressing and it is difficult to enjoy top-level sport more often", kažu ortopedi.

"This disease and competitive sport that's a contradiction"

"I don't think he has bone necrosis, because it's progressing and isn't compatible with high-performance sport for hours"

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Jamesjohn wrote:Hi everyone

Clear bullying by Rafa.  Media now ignoring the incident, if Novak or Nick [Kyrgios] did what Rafa did yesterday it would be turned into historical event by the media. But because Rafa did a bad thing the media ignores it as it protects Rafa. It would be interesting to see Nick lecture Rafa to stop picking his butt before every single point and also to lecture Rafa to hurry up and stop delaying everybody every match every point. Rafa would fall apart and never recover if Nick gives him the stop butt picking lecture at the net. Hope he does it. That would be interesting. . . .

What Rafa did yesterday was the worst form of bullying I can ever remember seeing on the court. I know a lot of bullying happens off the court and in the locker room, behind closed doors away from public viewing, but Rafa used his special privileges and star power yesterday to steal that match from Sonego. Disgusting display by Rafa. And it proves equality is a big fat sham, there is no equality in tennis. If Novak did what Rafa did yesterday the entire jackal media would be screaming for his head. But the media covers for Rafa and protects him.

Nadal tried and succeeded in avoiding roof closure by speeding up his service routine.

Disgusting.

It's almost as if the service routine is not OCD after all, but a way to make his opponent wait and break his concentration.

I wonder what other forms of cheating Nadal disguises behind notional medical conditions?

[Jaeger's] legacy . . . is that of a rising star who burnt out prematurely, for whom early success became the catalyst for injury and uneven temperament. That remained Jaeger’s story because she wasn’t yet ready to discuss the WTA staff member who persistently sexually harassed her in the locker room, eventually forcing Jaeger to take refuge in portable toilets at major tournaments. Nor was she prepared to describe the time she was unknowingly served alcohol while still underage before a different staff member drove her home and attempted to kiss her on her doorstep. But there is a part of Jaeger that has always wanted to set the record straight, so people would understand the difference between burning out and having the light drained from something you love. . . .

The biggest match of Jaeger’s career was her Wimbledon final in 1983 but the result was initially cast into history as an anticlimax. Navratilova took the first set to love and closed out victory inside an hour. It was only 15 years later when Jaeger claimed she’d lost on purpose that it took on a different kind of relevance. She explained that on the eve of the match, she had bolted out of her apartment after an argument with her father, Roland, and knocked on Navratilova’s door. She threw the final because she feared people might think she’d deliberately attempted to disrupt her opponent’s preparation.

In follow-up interviews, Jaeger offered white lies to reporters such as the row stemming from being forced to practise with an injured thumb or that her father had flown into a rage after catching her eating a packet of crisps. The truth, she says now, is that Roland had been approached by two concerned mothers of other players about the safeguarding of teenagers on the WTA Tour. Scared he’d left his daughter in harm’s way, Roland sat Andrea down and demanded she tell him everything. “If I had told him the truth, he’d have pulled me from the final and taken matters into his own hands,” she says. . . .

Jaeger was only 14 years old when she turned professional and was thrust into an adult environment. Her sudden success coupled with a fiery attitude soon made her a target. “I had situations where I’d go to get my racket and the strings would be cut,” she says. “When I went to put on my shoes, someone had left razor blades inside them.” Then, there were the comments from other players as she got changed. One insisted on making jokes about the size of Jaeger’s breasts and how they were “developed” for her age, and frequently drew them to the attention of other players. “My constant thought was, who is the kid here, me or them? It was so gross. It was disgusting, really.” . . .

Jaeger refers to one female WTA staff member in particular who “had a major problem keeping her hands to herself”. She estimates the person, who she does not want to name and no longer works at the organisation, made physically inappropriate advances on her in the locker room on at least 30 separate occasions “very, very early in my career”. When a senior player saw one of the incidents, they called it “crazy” but “did nothing to stop it”. Not long afterwards, Jaeger stopped using the physio room if other players weren’t present because of “another approach” made there.

“I’d change in portable toilets or a bathroom stall because I didn’t want to deal with the comments, interest or actions of people,” she says. “Someone recognised me at the US Open once and asked what I was doing, so I just said a pipe was broken in the locker room. There was always the concern I may have to deal with an adult who had problems with being either verbally or physically inappropriate with me.” . . .

But in 1982, there was a tipping point that pushed Jaeger to make a complaint. After losing to Evert in the final of the WTA Championships in Florida, she had to attend a players’ party that evening hosted by one of the tournament’s sponsors, a well-known brand of rum. When a WTA staff member asked her if she’d like a drink, Jaeger ordered the non-alcoholic cola Tab. “She came back with two glasses,” she says. “I thought mine tasted really weird.”

After her third glass, Jaeger began feeling “fuzzy”. She went over to the bar, pointed at the WTA staff member and asked the bartender what they’d ordered. They insisted all three Tabs had rum. It was the first time Jaeger had ever drunk alcohol. When the party was ending, the WTA employee gave Jaeger a lift back to her apartment. “I went with her and her girlfriend in the car,” she says. “The person was swaying driving and I remember we hit either some garbage or a mailbox. When we got to my condo, she walked me to the door and tried something on with me. She was trying to kiss me. I was so sickened that I was crawling up the stairs inside trying not to throw up so my dad wouldn’t see me.”

Jaeger was 16 years old. It wasn’t just the breach of trust that left Jaeger nauseated, it was what happened after she confided in someone in authority at the WTA. “I said this has got to stop. Every week I have to worry about this s***,” she says. “They said if you say one more word about this, we’ll make sure your sister’s scholarship at Stanford gets pulled. Every time I tried to stand up for myself, I was threatened with someone else getting harmed. . . .

“Do you know how hard it is to tell an adult in an industry that there’s a problem, how much courage that took? My parents were owed the right that if you put a kid on the court late at night or you’re going to have a WTA Tour representative drive them home, they’re going to be safe. They were owed that right and never got that right.” . . .

“I can see how in any sport, even now 40 years later, if a kid was confronted with similar situations they may also stay quiet when threatened,” she says. “I don’t want to enable any further harm to happen.”

Two more political figures have thrown support behind Novak Djokovic as he remains unable to play the US Open as an unvaccinated traveller. The United States currently bans any unvaccinated foreign nationals from entering the country but one of Donald Trump’s former aides has become the latest to criticise the rules and put pressure on Joe Biden, with a Senator echoing his calls. . . .

Several American politicians have condemned the ban already and called for the Serb to be allowed into the country to compete, and now two more have ridiculed the policy of stopping unjabbed visitors from entering the United States. “Let @DjokerNole play in the @usopen! The U.S. Open cheapens itself when it bans one of the best players in the world,” Richard Grenell tweeted. . . .

And current Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson has now echoed Grenell’s words, slamming the idea of keeping Djokovic out of the country as “stupid”. He tweeted: “@RichardGrenell⁩ is 100% correct on this.

“Has anyone noticed the vaccines are NOT preventing infection and transmission? The mandates are idiotic, pointless and destructive. How many jabs did Fauci get? Banning Djokovic would be equally stupid.”

Johnson and Grenell’s tweets come after two other US politicians criticised the ban on Djokovic and other unvaccinated travellers. Texas State Senator Drew Springer and Senator for Kentucky, Rand Paul pressured Biden over the issue last week.

"Biden is banning Novak Djokovic from coming to USA to play the US Open but allows millions of unvaccinated illegals to flood across the border. Hey Joe, what’s one more unvaxed person?!?! #LetNovakPlay #txlege #USOpen,” Springer tweeted last Sunday, before Paul said: "Hooray for heroic stances for medical freedom by Wimbledon champ Novak Djokovic. Boo for unscientific policy of banning visitors to US that already have natural immunity.”

The Serb has repeatedly stressed that he will not take the jab against COVID-19. As things stand, the only way Djokovic can hope to play in the year-ending Slam is if the Biden-led administration bends its rules.

And that is exactly what Claudia Tenney, the United States representative for New York's 22nd congressional district, is pushing at, as evidenced by her recent letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

She posted her letter on Twitter, accompanying it with a caption where she urged Joe Biden to relax the rules to benefit Novak Djokovic and other unvaccinated tennis players.

"Today, I’m urging the Biden administration to issue a National Interest Exemption so that world-renowned tennis star Novak Djokovic and any other international athlete can compete in the US Open," Claudia Tenney wrote. "Biden should then DROP the ridiculous mandate altogether!"

The Congresswoman believes that the US vaccine mandate enforced by the Biden administration is centered more around political strongarming than healthcare.

"President Biden’s unscientific vaccine mandate on international travel is about control & politics, not public health," she added.

Every tournament that denied Novak Djokovic entry because he chose bodily autonomy is an *asterisk* tournament.  Likewise are their prize winners *asterisk* prize winners.

Superman star Dean Cain agrees with John McEnroe that not allowing Novak Djokovic to compete at the US Open is "bull----." In an interview with Outkick, McEnroe sounded off on Djokovic likely missing out on the US Open just because of his vaccination status.

The United States no longer require a negative COVID-19 test upon entering the country, but they still require foreign travelers to show the proof of double vaccination. Becuase [sic] of that, Djokovic will likely miss out on his second Grand Slam in 2022.

"Because it IS BS," Cain tweeted. . . .

McEnroe: Djokovic should be allowed to play the US Open

"Well, first of all, I think it's BS," McEnroe told Outkick.

"That's what I think. He should be allowed to play. My personal opinion is that I've been vaccinated, I had the booster shot, and that's up to the individual.  If I were him and I'm not him, you know, he's won a lot more Majors than me and it's because he has dug in his heels and found that will that very few people in any sport have ever found.

That's part of what has made him so great.  He sticks to his guns and is perfectly entitled to make the decision."

Tennis can kiss my ass until it’s on a level playing field again..otherwise what’s the point of playing it, sport is about fair game and them picking and choosing who gets to play and who doesn’t is not fair. So nope, i’m done. See ya tennis, i would say i’ll miss u but i won’t.

As Moderna is gearing up to run a new COVID booster campaign this year in the U.S., it has scored tennis legend Billie Jean King as part of its U.S. Open sponsorship.

The biotech is specifically looking to boost awareness of mRNA technology in general, with no specific promotional branded marketing attached.

Dull had injured knees, injured foot and now a torn abdominal. What's the next excuse? Erectile dysfunction?

“It’s going too much in the private life and intimacy. So, I will not talk about these things. But I have been raised in an Orthodox Christian family. But I don’t limit myself to that, so to say. I consider myself an open-minded and open-hearted person that respects and embraces everything that religions and knowledges that people have around the world that could enrich my life and my family’s lives. So I’ll keep it to that."

Simona Halep said she will “fight for the truth” after she was provisionally suspended from tennis for failing a drugs test at the US Open.

In what is the most high profile doping case in women’s tennis since Maria Sharapova was banned from the sport in 2016, Halep, the Romanian former world No 1, was found to have traces of the drug Roxadustat in her urine. An anti-anaemia medicine, Roxadustat promotes the creation of red blood cells and is featured on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of prohibited substances.

The 31-year-old denies knowingly taking the drug and says the results – which were collated by the International Tennis Integrity Agency – showed “extremely low” levels of the substance in her system. Halep lost in the first round of the US Open in August to the Ukrainian Daria Snigur.

In a lengthy statement posted on social media, Halep said: “Today begins the hardest match of my life: a fight for the truth.

“I have been notified that I have tested positive for a substance called Roxadustat in an extremely low quantity, which came as the biggest shock of my life.

“Throughout my whole career, the idea of cheating never even crossed my mind once, as it is totally against all the values I have been educated with.

“If Agassi or Sampras ever test positive, you guys in the media will never know about it because they are too important to the economics of the tour.”  

— Marcelo Rios

“I have heard of cases of the ITF covering up positive tests.”

— Jonas Bjorkman

A man named Zivota Nikolic reached out to me to explain what the real story is about the secrecy of Team Djokovic mixing Novak’s water bottle with a special, natural supplement.

Zivota Nikolic is based in Fort Worth, Texas, and says he’s a “producer of organic supplements from Wild Apple in Eastern Europe good for many health problems.”

“I am person responsible for the drink that Novak Djokovic is using when he played tennis or not,” Nikolic wrote to me in a comment on my previous article about the water bottle drink mix media controversy. “Concentrated drink needs to be mixed before drinking. I am small guy and I’m not able to pay sponsorship, and secrecy is directed by sponsorship agency that Novak has contract with. By contracts he is not allowed to show publicly any name that is not authorized by them. Contractually he will be in violation and he will pay penalty that advertising agency may assess and value will be deducted from contracts that he has with agency. Question is who was videotaping this event of supplying drink to Novak and answer is person who can benefits by proving wrongdoing. Product is natural and is available to be purchased by the order. I like the public to know that Novak Djokovic is not doing anything illegal just protecting himself from financial punishment.”

Mr. Nikolic’s explanation is believable. About five years ago a tennis coach/friend of mine named Arthur Bobko told me about the Fitline products of energy mixes, productivity boosters, with supplies of natural minerals and trace elements. I instantly became a believer as I saw Bobko make the mix and drink it and suddenly start playing much better, faster and explosive. I still remember leading 5-2 and after he drank his Fitline drink mix, he WON FIVE STRAIGHT GAMES! I still joke that I didn’t lose to him that day, I lost to Fitline. The same thing happened in the second, a 5-2 lead for me turned into a 5-7 set loss. Those two sets were the closest I ever came to beating Bobko. Bobko told me the Fitline products were based in Germany and were used by Djokovic, who loved the product so much he used it without being paid or sponsored to. I tried Fitline products later and also experienced positive results and improved stamina, energy and performance.

So now it’s confirmed, Novak Djokovic did nothing illegal at Paris Rolex Masters. Now let’s see if the agenda driven tennis media will do the right thing and admit it’s fault and error in rushing to another negative judgement to bash and attack the greatest champion in the history of tennis.

Apparently Djokovic moved on to the drink mixes provided by Mr. Nikolic.

And it makes sense why Team Djokovic are forced to keep the nature and identity of the products private.

Reilly Opelka has received flack [sic] on social media after tennis fans found his comments on Fernando Verdasco's two-month ban uncalled for.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) on Wednesday released a statement stating that Verdasco was banned for two months after he tested positive for the drug methylphenidate and forgot to renew the Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE). A TUE allows athletes to compete even if their medication involves a prohibited substance.

The 39-year-old Spaniard, who was tested at an ATP Challenger event in Brazil in February 2022, accepted the charge under the 2022 Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP). However, Opelka took to social media to accuse Verdasco of legal doping, saying that Adderall was a performance-enhancing drug.

"One of the biggest issues in tennis.. why are guys taking adderall for the first time in their life as adults? Legal doping," Opelka tweeted.

John Millman tweeted this week what may be the biggest bombshell of the year in professional tennis.

The Australian veteran 33 year old revealed a tweet that doping and performance-enhancing drug cheating is happening in pro tennis via the “therapeutic use exemption”…

Millman’s bombshell tweet… In general I really don’t like TUE’s in professional sport. Opens up way too many loopholes to “legally dope” – it’s very unfortunate for those with legitimate need as is the probable case here. However it’s been long known that if you want to dope, get a TUE.

Think about what Millman just said… If you want to dope or cheat with illegal drugs, just apply for and use a TUE. TUE information has been kept secret from the public and media which also suggests foul play or secret agendas/activities.

Transparency and full disclosure on all TUE information and which players are using what PEDs would help clear up this brewing controversy. But don’t hold your breath waiting for this info to be released to the public.