Rafael Nadal: I Believe My Rivals Are Clean, I Believe The Sport Is Clean And I Believe In The Doping Program

I disagree with his assessment that the sport is clean, and find his faith in the doping program to be laughable. Perhaps because he is continuously tested, he thinks the program works, but that doesn’t speak to other players who haven’t been tested as often (or the quality of the tests given), nor the absurdity of those who have been “caught”, who have clearly had no intention to cheat.

The prevalence of players achieving results in the 30s, based on physical capacity, that they have never achieved before when their bodies were more supple, and should have recovered better, leads me to question the quality of the testing. Wayne Odesnik was caught going through customs in Australia with several vials of HGH, and I would be surprised if he were the only one in the sport using that substance, yet nobody (including Odesnik) has ever been caught by doping controls, using HGH.

There are players who have worked extensively with Lance Armstrong’s Postal Team doctor, Luis Garcia del Moral, and none of them have ever been “caught”. The same for Eufemiano Fuentes, who admitted working with tennis players, but when his blood samples were presented as evidence in a trial in Spain for fraud and malpractice, the judge in the case ordered them all destroyed.

The notion that tennis has been serious about doping, is still serious about doping, have identified doctors that have vast experience, and have been banned and/or jailed for doping, who have worked with tennis players but somehow no tennis players actually trying to dope have been caught, is laughable.

I think Nadal is clean, and he can comment on his own integrity, which I believe in (Djokovic’s too, for the record) but not the rest of the sport. In that, they are as ignorant as the rest of us because the sport has done little to pursue actual dopers.

May 2nd, 2016 at 9:52 am

That Odesnkik was caught at an airport rather than by formal testing is a huge stain on the anti-doping efforts.

I would like to know the real frequency of tests administered to the players. I’d also like to know what the consequence of Serena’s panic room fiasco was. Did she ever take the test she was supposed to take? I’d like to know the blood passport results. I’d like to know the results of the general doping tests.

Nadal, Djokovic, the ITF, WADA, and all these people keep trying to convince us that the program is good and effective yet they offer no proof of that. Nadal says that if he’s going to be accused, the accuser should have proof. That’s fair. But the same applies to these claims of the anti-doping program being so good at keeping the sport clean. I see no proof of this anymore than I see proof of Nadal doping.

May 2nd, 2016 at 11:18 am

“I believe in my sport,” Nadal said Sunday in Madrid. “That’s the most important thing. I believe that my rivals are
clean. I believe the sport is clean and I believe in our anti-doping program, no, and it’s an independent one.”

SANTA CLAUS , ALIENS ,TOOTH FAIRIES…..!!!!

May 2nd, 2016 at 12:55 pm

Serena was never tested after panic room episode, day after or any other day, she was never fined for it, not even slap on a wrist. ITF and WADA, when asked WHY, refused to give the answer, or more precisely, they didn’t feel there is anything to be answered. It turned out that Serena has never been tested OC for entire 2010/11 year.
I gave link long time ago, but it is not hard to google find the answer if one is after the answer.

BTW, wasn’t that time when that dick was the head of WADA?

May 2nd, 2016 at 9:03 pm

No it wasn’t him, another sleazy politician was head of WADA, John Fahey, former Premier of my state, NSW. I wonder how do they choose the for those position, what kind of qualifications John had for that job? None!

May 2nd, 2016 at 9:13 pm

Rafael Nadal: I Believe My Rivals Are Clean, I Believe The Sport Is Clean And I Believe In The Doping Program
—
I am clean. I take a shower daily and don’t use drugs. It is that simple. Even a Frenchman can understand this but as usual they pretend to not understand. To make things simple, I want to tell them that this is similar to their national hobby of “choking”. It’s all good.

May 2nd, 2016 at 10:09 pm

wog boy i put a link on the “is rafa for real” thread for novak fans. good, short read :)

May 2nd, 2016 at 11:46 pm

Thanks jane, I’ll go there now.

May 3rd, 2016 at 12:14 am

jane,

Thanks, really good article, and uncle Toni is as cunning as one can be. He knows what, why and when to say it.

May 3rd, 2016 at 12:24 am

:)) wog boy, i liked how straightforward that writer’s response was didn’t you? i mean he’s right: that sort of theory cuts both ways. and he raised very good points about 2011.

May 3rd, 2016 at 12:42 am

To set the record straight regarding Rafa – when the dirty Spanish doctor (Fuentes) was tried and mentioned that he had “treated” tennis players as well, Rafa was quick to ask that Fuentes names the names of his clients,
Of course, dirty Spanish judge ordered that all blood samples of the dirty Spanish doctor be destroyed forever. So either Rafa is clean or he knew that dirty Spanish judge will order samples destroyed and asked for the names just to appear clean. If I had to decide, I’d lean toward the “Rafa is clean” option, even though the opposite wouldn’t surprise me.

My suspects though are Federer and Serena, both of whom are mysteriously unavailable for playing ever since the testing become more rigorous after Sharapova was caught in February. As MMT said above, players in their 30s (e.g. Roger & Serena) who appear fitter than when young are suspicious indeed – and we all know that Federer by his own admission played his best tennis last couple of years, and would have won at least 3 slams had it not been for the best player in the world (initials ND).

May 3rd, 2016 at 4:03 am

Travis – I don’t think Federer, Nadal or Djokovic are doping, or have ever doped. My suspicion surrounds those players with inexplicable fitness and results (late in their careers or suddenly, who then suffer equally inexplicable and precipitous drop-offs) and associations with those dirty doping doctors like Fuentes, Bonar and del Moral. I would also consider instances where said players have been overly aggressive and confrontational with opponents and officials – that’s another tell tale sign of someone who has boosted their testosterone. That is just ONE possible PED, but it’s a tell tale sign of it.

And then there are guys like Odesnik, who were caught red-handed.

May 3rd, 2016 at 2:53 pm

I don’t think Serena or Venus have ever doped either – they’ve always been exceptional strong, but rarely particularly fit (as far as stamina and recovery are concerned), so she doesn’t fit my profile.

May 3rd, 2016 at 2:55 pm

jane: read your link to Toni Nadal’s comments, and I agree with you and the author. This monkey business about denigrating a player’s accomplishments by discounting it based on perceptions of his contemporaries conspicuously omits one consideration: isn’t there something that Djokovic (and Nadal and Federer for that matter) had to do with all those years the “others” weren’t (supposedly) at their best?

Of course: he beat the hell out of everyone so that (conveniently) in retrospect, their opponents appear not to have been much worse by comparison. Tennis is a zero-sum game. In order for Djokovic’s to be adjudged better (by this logic), his opponents have to have been better, and for this he would necessarily have to LOSE MORE.

Take out the middle sentence, and the logic is, “In order for Djokovic to be adjudged better, he would have to lose more.”

Prima facie, that is an absurd argument.

May 3rd, 2016 at 3:25 pm

It also has the insidious effect of adjudging him worse the better he does – because every title he wins is one less title his contemporaries can. That’s worse than illogical, it’s actually quite cynical.

May 3rd, 2016 at 3:27 pm