The Tennis Thread

[Babw]

What I mean is that they have the ability to take more risk and go for flatter long line/wider angles but even Murray who's a fairly passive player was taking far more risk than Djokovic the best player in the world.

Those flat cross court BH Murray was hitting, Djokovic has the ability to do that but he just doesn't want to as he know the match can be won without taking the risk. Consistency has different meanings, today it means not missing and at one point it meant hitting a winner.

The whole "softball" tactic that Djokovic is apparently vulnerable to only works because he can't generate the attacking ball from a neutral position as that involves taking risk. Obviously the fitness does play a part but Stan showed in the French that you don't have to move Djokovic 20 times in a rally to make an opening for a winner.

I'm sure we'll see a change in tactics at some point soon enough, what we see from Raonic, Kyrgios etc are promising.

[epom]

Sharapova tests positive for Drugs.

[Russ35]

Apparently for something she has been taking for the past 10 years, but became a band substance on the 1st Jan this year.

She didn't pick up n this in an email from WADA in December.

[glazbagun]

epom said:

Sharapova tests positive for Drugs.

And still can't touch Williams.

[Vyse]

Doesn't look good at all.

Shes has lived in the US most of her life. Meldonium is a substance that is only available from eastern Europe. Its actually banned by the FDA. For whatever reason she is using the drug surly there must be better US certified ones for the condition she is treating. Even though the drug was only put on the WADA banned list in January, her having taken it for 10 years seems to point towards her utilising the drug firstly for its endurance enhancing properties. It wouldn't be far fetched to assume other players using the same substance.

[mcelliott]

She'll roll out the usual feeble excuses that dopers normally wheel out - hopefully a lengthy ban will follow, although this is tennis, so I'm not sure what the procedure is. At least we won't have to put up with her ridiculous grunts.

[Leithen]

Embarrassing for Porsche. Mr Webber will be doing solo promo events until a suitable replacement can be found.

[Deisel Weisel]

Vyse said:

Doesn't look good at all.

Shes has lived in the US most of her life. Meldonium is a substance that is only available from eastern Europe. Its actually banned by the FDA. For whatever reason she is using the drug surly there must be better US certified ones for the condition she is treating. Even though the drug was only put on the WADA banned list in January, her having taken it for 10 years seems to point towards her utilising the drug firstly for its endurance enhancing properties. It wouldn't be far fetched to assume other players using the same substance.

So what? Whether it was for genuine medical reasons or purely enhancing properties, it was legal until January. Every other top flight athlete also takes advantage of any legal enhancers, the only difference bieng, Maria was relying on idiots, who can't be bothered to do their job, to keep her informed of updates to the banned list.

[Vocal Minority]

In fairness she has held her hand up and said its her responsibility to make sure - unlike a lot of the recent sprinters getting caught out

[anonymous-user]

glazbagun said:

epom said:

Sharapova tests positive for Drugs.

And still can't touch Williams.

Imagine what she must be on.

[Justices]

Well that explains all the screaming!

Just got into LA for Indian Wells, perfect weather, should be a cracker!

[Leithen]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

It's a PED, not an approved FDA drug. She's lived in the US for some time, not Russia where you have to source the drug. Her story doesn't begin to stack up.

Has she been listing it as one of her prescribed drugs on doping control forms? I doubt we'll ever know as this whole stage managed announcement reeks of the tennis world trying to minimise the damage.

Terrible message to younger players.

[JNW1]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

So if this drug has now been put on the list of banned substances it's presumably because the authorities have concluded that it enhances performance in some way? That being the case Sharapova has been gaining an advantage by using it for the last 10 years (albeit legally until the end of 2015); makes you wonder where her ranking would have been without that assistance although in fairness we don't know how many other players were using it as well. However, it does all add to the feeling that Russian sportspeople aren't especially clean when it comes to the use of drugs.....

[hornetrider]

Deisel Weisel said:

So what? Whether it was for genuine medical reasons or purely enhancing properties, it was legal until January. Every other top flight athlete also takes advantage of any legal enhancers, the only difference bieng, Maria was relying on idiots, who can't be bothered to do their job, to keep her informed of updates to the banned list.

I also have this POV. If it's legal, it's legal. She should have a 'team' who are on top of this st - the buck stops with them.

Nike have just ditched her and no doubt others will follow. She's not on her uppers of course, but that's gonna sting.

[JNW1]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I do agree that in some respects the classification of what is and isn't performance enhancing can be confusing. From what I understand there are some types of hay fever medication which appear on the banned substance list so in theory a player could take something to combat hay fever at Wimbledon and end-up testing positive despite no intent to enhance their performance (unless you count stopping sneezing and your eyes watering as performance enhancing!). However, I suppose the argument will be that there are other tablets you can take to combat that allergy which don't include banned substances and ultimately it's your responsibility as a player to ensure you're taking the correct medication. For a top tennis professional like Sharapova I would have thought her team ought to be on top of things like that so IMO they've let her down if they've not drawn to her attention the fact that a substance she's been taking legally for years is now banned.

[DocJock]

Err, the whole purpose of the drug in question is to increase oxygen uptake and increase physical endurance.

My only surprise is that it has avoided the banned substances list until now.

[Justices]

Wow, big move from Nike. I can understand the confusion as the list always changes, but she is the highest paid female player and is managed by IMG so has more manpower around here than any other player. The ones I feel sorry for are the players without all the backing and team who genuinely get caught out as they are managing everything alone.

Not a big fan of Sharapova but I do feel for her in this instance. However, I know of many players that simply don't take any medicine at all just to avoid any possible issue.

[ewenm]

Justices said:

Wow, big move from Nike. I can understand the confusion as the list always changes, but she is the highest paid female player and is managed by IMG so has more manpower around here than any other player. The ones I feel sorry for are the players without all the backing and team who genuinely get caught out as they are managing everything alone.

Not a big fan of Sharapova but I do feel for her in this instance. However, I know of many players that simply don't take any medicine at all just to avoid any possible issue.

Most of the athletes I know who manage themselves restrict their medicines to Paracetamol and Ibuprofen when needed. I saw some interesting analysis on mysportscience.com about the number of supplements (not medicines I know) that don't contain what they claim to, or contain extra substances.

There are other resources for sportspeople - there's a good website where you put in your sport, and the medicine and it will tell you whether it contains any banned substances.

I was quite impressed with Sharapova's acceptance of responsibility, not something that you see often from other dopers. That said, her team should have either sorted out a TUE (if they exist in tennis and the usage is genuinely theraputic) or told her to stop taking the drug.

[Europa1]

hornetrider said:

I also have this POV. If it's legal, it's legal. She should have a 'team' who are on top of this st - the buck stops with them.

Nike have just ditched her and no doubt others will follow. She's not on her uppers of course, but that's gonna sting.

No, the buck stops with her.

[JNW1]

Europa1 said:

hornetrider said:

I also have this POV. If it's legal, it's legal. She should have a 'team' who are on top of this st - the buck stops with them.

Nike have just ditched her and no doubt others will follow. She's not on her uppers of course, but that's gonna sting.

No, the buck stops with her.

Agreed; her team certainly appears to have let her down but ultimately the player is responsible for what they take (and in fairness to Sharapova she's not attempting to suggest otherwise).