Wayne Odesnik Gets Hit With Second Doping Offense, Retires, And The Tennis World Applauds

by Staff | March 18th, 2015, 2:24 pm
  • 26 Comments

Wayne Odesnik was hit with his second doping offense, the ITF announced today, effectively ending his tennis career thanks to a 15-year ban from the sport.

Odesnik December 14 test returned positive for “one or more of: metabolites of methenolone; metabolites of androst-(2,3)-en-17-one; and GHRP-6”. The 29-year-old will forfeit points earned this year from the Australian Open and any challenger events.

Odesnik then announced his retirement from the sport, but maintained his innocence.


“I am announcing my retirement from professional tennis on the ATP World Tour effective immediately,” he said in a statement. “For the past decade, I was extremely blessed to travel the world playing professional tennis, the sport I have grown up playing and is a part of me.

“In December 2014, I unknowingly ingested a contaminated over-the-counter supplement. Upon learning of my positive test results I was immediately heartbroken as words could not describe my shock and disappointment. Being the most tested American tennis player on the tour, I would never knowingly have taken any chance of consuming a banned substance. The contaminated product is currently with an independent accredited testing laboratory in California for further testing at my own expense, and I am currently considering my legal options.”

The American was first caught in 2010. The lefty reached a career-high No. 77 in 2009. He has earned over $1.15M over his career.

Following the decision, a few players applauded the news.


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26 Comments for Wayne Odesnik Gets Hit With Second Doping Offense, Retires, And The Tennis World Applauds

brando Says:

Well if you commit the crime you’ll pay the time. But this is good to see as it shows the ATP are stringent on this front.

March 18th, 2015 at 2:34 pm


chris ford1 Says:

Andy needs to pull it back some in laying his mighty moral superiority on anyone. Odesnik may be – in all probability in fact is – guilty, but Andy jumped the gun condemning Cilic and Troicki when both guys were later determined to have unwittingly violated testing.
I’d wait until the independent lab determines if the batch was contaminated.
As for Murray – he needs to clean up his own act some in the behavior front. Drugs are bad for the image of the pro sport, but cussing your own mother and laying C-bombs and F-bombs on her in public is also bad for the image of the sport. Learn from Kim Sears. If you must cuss someone, cuss the opponent.

March 18th, 2015 at 5:56 pm


Hippy Chick Says:

^What about Steve Darcis?^….

March 18th, 2015 at 6:03 pm


Margot Says:

Andy swears at himself for sure but as far as I know he has never sworn AT anyone else on court, leave alone his mother.
Do you think Judy would put up with it for a moment? In fact one of the times I’ve seen Andy get really cross on court was when JMDP mentioned his mother.
Many of the players swear, some even at lines people, ball kids, umps etc.

March 18th, 2015 at 6:33 pm


Aarontennis Says:

Wayne is such a tool! As far back as i can remember, he snubbed other players and displayed a consistent lack of camaraderie amongst the other American players. I hope that he spends the rest of his days as a towel girl.

March 18th, 2015 at 6:47 pm


Markus Says:

@Aarontennis: Thank you. It sheds some light as to why Andy Murray would say that. It’s rather uncharacteristic of him. I did some websearch and found some other articles. Apparently, nobody in the tour likes him. Even Andy Roddick is happy he’s gone. Here are a couple of links:

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/tennis/31949668
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/19/sports/tennis/wayne-odesnik-barred-from-tennis-for-15-years-for-second-doping-violation.html?_r=0

March 18th, 2015 at 7:37 pm


Aarontennis Says:

@Markus: I have volunteered at the Miami Open and some Challenger tour events in the Southeast for years now, and he was always one of the most difficult to work with in player relations. Behind the scenes, we referred to him as a food stamp version of Vince Spadea. The integrity of the ATP tour is better off without him.

March 18th, 2015 at 8:38 pm


skeezer Says:

Aarontennis,
Thank you for being a volunteer and helping the game, know to well its a sacrifice, and a love for the game. Thank you!

March 18th, 2015 at 9:27 pm


the DA Says:

@chris ford1 – what on earth was that rant about? You clearly aren’t up-to-date. His mother only attends around 4 tournaments nowadays. She’s rather busy. And he certainly never swore at her. Or to anyone but himself, as Margot stated above.

I also don’t know where you get moral superiority from. He and many other players have made it clear they despise Odesnik for some time. Earlier today Roddick was asked his reaciton on twitter and replied:

“my feelings are that he’s a douchebag and I hate that he has a US flag next to his name when he’s cheating. Good riddance”

https://twitter.com/andyroddick/status/578238864759750656

That’s much stronger than Murray’s statement. I don’t gauge any moral superiority, just scorn.

March 18th, 2015 at 10:21 pm


Margot Says:

@the DA
Waiting for a similar rant against Andy Roddick now. But not holding my breath.

March 19th, 2015 at 2:32 am


Ben Pronin Says:

Cilic did take something, whether “unknowningly” or not, he was guilty. And Troicki flat out disobeyed the rules. So he was guilty, too.

You want to wait for independent labs to determine if Odesnik is guilty? He failed 3 separate tests that were at least some time a part. This doesn’t suffice? Do you need him on video holding up his license, passport, and social security and injecting himself with steroids to believe that he’s guilty?

Like the Andy’s said, good riddance.

March 19th, 2015 at 8:25 am


Giles Says:

Didn’t joker practice with this doper a little while ago? Funny not much attention was drawn to it.

March 19th, 2015 at 8:42 am


brando Says:

Yeah in all honesty I don’t like it when players belittle the other guy. Its not nice viewing. But in this case, the guy can only blame himself. To commit 2 offences, get checked 3 separate times and fail all 3: come on man, you are plain guilty. He’s brought this on himself.

March 19th, 2015 at 8:58 am


calmdownplease Says:

Who is Wayne Odesnik?

Oh yes, the ATP are REALLY clamping down on this…..

lol

March 19th, 2015 at 9:54 am


calmdownplease Says:

chrisford1 = Lance Armstrong’s HGH dealer.

March 19th, 2015 at 9:56 am


Hippy Chick Says:

I dont ever recall ever watching him play to be honest,however he has nobody to blame but himself,as much as id love to believe that one of my favorite sports is perfectly clean,i know thats not particulaly realistic,and unfortunatly its the world we live in….

March 19th, 2015 at 10:11 am


Patson Says:

Catch all those who do it ! Zero leniency towards doping.

Say NO to doping — and honking at people randomly when they are walking (Somebody honked at me , so just slipped this in).

March 19th, 2015 at 11:15 am


MIKE Says:

Guess the ATP players never really cared about Andre admitting doing illegal drugs on tour that helped his game ? #hypocrites #idolworship #poorguy

March 19th, 2015 at 4:16 pm


Hippy Chick Says:

MIKE That thought had crossed my mind too!….

March 19th, 2015 at 4:18 pm


tennismonger Says:

Aarontennis,
Thank you for being a volunteer along w/your other contributions to tennis but…why drag Vince Spadea into this?!

Don’t forget, there are still some HUGE Vince Spadea fans out there… ;-)

March 19th, 2015 at 5:38 pm


Margot Says:

Lol Andy went to the locker room 2 games early!
But apart from that, I spent most of the match drooling and nothing to do with Deliciano’s charms either.
GOOOOOOOO ANDY!

March 19th, 2015 at 5:52 pm


Markus Says:

CDP, are you saying that chrisford 1 is Armstrong’s HGH dealer? That’s a big accusation. Please, clarify.

March 19th, 2015 at 5:58 pm


the DA Says:

“that helped his game ”

Helped his game? Are you for real? The period he did meth his ranking was in free fall. Read the book. The timeline is clear.

March 19th, 2015 at 6:06 pm


Margot Says:

OOPS wrong thread for comment on Andy’s match.
*red face*

March 19th, 2015 at 6:11 pm


Aarontennis Says:

Because “Spadea” ain’t “afraid of ya.”

March 19th, 2015 at 10:00 pm

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