Silent Suspensions - The Latest In Failing Drug Tests!

I was reading some articles (I won't disclose where) and the latest trend in tennis players doping is that they serve 'silent suspensions'

The theory is that Nadal failed a drugs test at the WTF 2011. His punishment? A month suspension in February.

The other theory was that Henin retired because, wait for it 'She knew she was going to test positive for a drugs test'

Another theory was that Nadal failed a drugs test as recent as Wimbledon and is now serving a 'silent suspension'

Now I have heard and read some crap in my time, but this by far is the biggest load I have heard. Once more what makes it the more remarkable is that people choose to believe in such far fetched crap.

Here is my groundbreaking theory. They don't exist!!

Now why on earth would sport in general, not just tennis go to all the trouble of all the 'public' suspensions of drugs cheats in all formats and then decide no wait we won't disclose this person or that person. Since when would failing a drugs test serve a 1 month suspension when in some sports the sports organisation hand out life bans.

Now seriously can someone point to an athlete in the world of sport that has sat out a 'silent suspension' due to failing a drugs test?

Now I knew some out there on this forum wanted a laugh and well here it is

It's ridiculous really, isn't it?
Of course the conspiracy theorists will say, no, it's obvious and when challenged to produce evidence, will say, 'They hide the evidence stupid, how naive can you get? And anyway, you can't prove it's not happening'.

In the end we all believe what we want to believe, but some people like facts, and some people like conspiracies.

Flo-Jo springs to mind: didn't she retire rather coincidentally at about the same time random testing was brought in?

I don't believe all this rubbish about "silent suspensions" though: if "they" are covering up positive tests the athletes wouldn't get any suspension, full stop. The Nadal in February is particularly outlandish as that's a time when plenty of tennis players take time off (one of the few times they can).

On a more serious note, I do believe doping in tennis is more widespread than the positive tests suggest, but that's a discussion for another day.

Hey MFC. Long time no see.

Interesting your thoughts on doping in tennis because I think differently. I think it's less occurant based on that the ITF have improved their testing standards in the last 20 years. I think the patterns in rankings would suggest it is a clean sport. I mean if we opened out to say Carl Lewis's comments on Bolt recently, I just think sometimes in sports you get freaks of nature that defy logic. I will touch on what Butch Harmon on the golf said tonight about cheating, if they are all aware about it, why don't they all do it?

See for me sports nutrition is the biggest factor. Remember Wimbledon 1995 and Boris Becker in the final drinking coke. Who would do that nowadays.

Haha LK, yes I read that very same cr@p on another forum earlier today...those guys have serious Nadal issues/agendas
Infact they'll do anything they can to discredit the guy off whatever they can make up. And posting libellous stuff like that is risky for the individual's concerned and the forum its posted on I'd have thought, especially if a staunch fan happened to see it and email it to Nadal's team.
Personally I think the conspiracy theory is just that.
If a player was truly caught doping they would be outted, the ATP/ITF/WADA couldn't risk keeping a lid on it for a start. And where is the proof silent bans have been handed out before?
As you say was good for a laugh...the extremist anti-Nadalians's who left here certainly like to keep their pet topic going

The reason such things would be kept quiet would be for the sake of the Sport and it's image. But, proof of guilt is paramount, otherwise we will keep discussing such topics ad infinitum.

Hi LK (and Lydian of course - good to see you're back ) I've been away on holiday since the start of Wimbledon basically (first to China, then London for the Olympics - where I was lucky enough to catch the tennis final on the big screen in the Olympic Park ).

I honestly think we're kidding ourselves if we believe tennis is completely clean. By this I don't mean to say the top players are on drugs (I really don't think they are - they're far too gifted to need them IMO), but to believe no one is doping stretches it too far for me. Understand entirely what you say about "freaks of nature" LK (and for me Bolt is one of them) though.

Lydian, small bone to pick with you over "the ATP/ITF/WADA couldn't risk keeping a lid on it", you could argue in athletics say the IAAF kept a pretty tight lid on various positive tests (Carl Lewis for one, and I find it very hard to believe Marion Jones never failed a drugs tests somehow, several others too unfortunately), so the examples (albeit in another sport) are there.

Of course, tennis relies maybe less on physical prowess than athletics (or cycling of course), so maybe I'm just being very cynical, but IMO there could be a lot more done to fight doping in sport in general, and tennis is no exception there.

On lighter matters, this doesn't change my view that the whole "silent suspensions" thing is absolute garbage, and yet another poor attempt to have a go at poor Rafa.

Well I was more surprised by the mention of Henin. The most gifted player of her generation. Again was someone I know who cheated Williams and Clijsters in matches, yes reasons to dislike, but a drug cheat too?

They should read the case of Hingis who retired when she tested positive for cocaine and denied it, yet never made the effort to clear her name.

What BOTH Nadal and Federer can do on a tennis court looks too good to be true but I don't think a drug has been developed that can replicate this. If ther was there would be a few more Nadal and Federers about...

Yes LF but keeping things quiet always runs that huge risk and every conspiracy theory has to take into account the 'what if' factor in the truth finally coming out. If the above was true but ATP/ITF kept a lid on it (how could they ensure it was kept on though?) but then it came out the damage to the sport then becomes even higher.
Yes without proof these discussions as always are simply hot air.

I do agree MFC that tennis is not totally clean. A low ranked player was recently banned for testing positive for nandrolone. Some will try anything to close the gap on the top guys and tennis is not a sport that financially rewards lower ranked guys.

I thought Jones and her hubby both failed drug tests?

Oh I agree M4c (hi yourself and welcome back from what sounds a great holiday!), most sports will always have those who like to push the rules for their advantage. But in some respects we're talking about the way authorities are acting here, not the athletes. The way they respond to positive tests.

I simply can't believe the ATP are handing out silent bans as their way of addressing failed drug tests - either they say/do nothing, or they clamp down surely as they've done with others before? Again, if the truth got out that they were handing out silent bans for some but fuller and open bans for other, e.g. Puerta and some others, then this puts them in a pickle. The silent approach is fraught with difficulties.

I thought Jones never actually failed a test, it took the whole thing going to court to get her busted. Could be wrong though... Montgomorie did fail a test (or maybe several) I think.

Lydian, cycling sprins to mind here, they tried to keep a lid on things and failed and we all (well all cycling fans) remember what happened in 98 with the Festina affair. It's all about weighing the risks for the governing bodies (hypothetically of course).

The whole "silent bans" thing is ridiculous: IMO, if (and this is purely hypothetical - I don't for a moment believe it's true) the ITF were covering things up they wouldn't bother handing out bans at all, even silent ones. I think we're singing from the same hymn sheet here anyway: I don't think there's "organised" doping in tennis, I merely believe they are some who are doping, and that the ITF/ATP/WADA could be doing more to catch them.

Agree better/broader testing is needed across most sports rather than the selective approach at present. I can see why authorities want to keep lids on their sports being 'dirty' but I just think that backfires when the truth inevitably comes out. Yep, think we're also agreed silent bans would be a ridiculous way to both keep lids on and meter out punishment at the same time.

I honestly don't understand what everyone is trying to achieve here ?

One of the ironies of everyone reacting to certain posts was that by continually reacting they highlighted and fanned the flames of speculations/discussions that apparently were poisoning the forum and causing such distress.

Now said discussions are elsewhere and peace is said to reign here, what is the point of distressing ourselves by regurgitating them on this site? (I know you were more robust with such posts LK but they seemed to cause others untold misery!)

Hmmm....

Silent suspensions just doesn't logically make sense. Why would officials come up with silent suspensions. It would leak out and Tennis would be hawled through the coals. It would be far simpler to pass the samples in the first place rather than go through the process of a silent suspension.

lydian wrote:Hmmm....

I have an opinion Lydian - I am not having a pop at any one person more how we all as a forum behaved. I just don't see the point in harbouring ill feeling towards other posters, especially when they are not here.

Drug taking is not so important in tennis - they have rests every two games and between sets, where they are able to eat, drink take vitamins etc. Nadal, Djokovic, Del Potro, Murray to some extent, take more time between points to recover. It's a stop, recover, go, stop, recover, go activity. It's not like sprinting (no recovery time) or middle distance running (no recovery time, no eating and drinking etc). Cycling is a continuous activity (so no stopping and recovering) - although one can take it "easier" when in the peloton.

Quite TP. I harbour no ill feelings to anyone, there are much worse things happen at sea, i.e real life, than to take these places too seriously.

lydian wrote:Quite TP. I harbour no ill feelings to anyone, there are much worse things happen at sea, i.e real life, than to take these places too seriously.

A story from the Olympics: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/19225751

Hey TP

I was genuinely trying to find any story to support this theory because if it were true it would've been interesting to see how they were implemented and what the drivers for them would be. Sadly the players mentioned to be involved were those who are disliked.

It does open the field to posters on their thoughts of doping in tennis and at what levels in the sport.

Nore Staat wrote:

lydian wrote:Quite TP. I harbour no ill feelings to anyone, there are much worse things happen at sea, i.e real life, than to take these places too seriously.

A story from the Olympics: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/19225751

That's a brilliant article about an athlete running as a citizen of the world Nore - really moving story. It is a great reminder that the Olympics is about more than just cheering on your own nation (fantastic and inspiring as that is) and celebrating the excellence, the dedication, and the possibilities of human spirit and performance

Hey Legend it's not that I don't think there is a place to discuss peds, it's just that I don't think a certain path is sensible to re tread. For my part, I think it is naive to think there are no drugs in tennis and I would like to see Federer's suggestion of storing blood samples for 8 years to really discourage anyone coming into the sport from using. I think a sporting body might well be tempted with 'silent bans' to protect their sport and prevent everyone being tarred with suspicion but I have absolutely no proof that that might be so - though Agassi's disclosures have, unfortunately, not painted the ATP in the best possible light in terms of them having a zero tolerance policy with its stars. And that latter point is the reason why I think that if such things as silent bans were taking place, then someone would 'sell' that story at some point.

Yes nice link NS, the Olympics really do help us savour and wonder at the depth of human determination and ability to overcome adversity when we're free from the constraints of politics, ideologies and prejudice.

At the end of the day for all we know any of the top 50 could be dopers, we would never know if the ATP chose to cover positive tests up. All we're left with is idle speculation as always from those who like to propagate it on other forums. There is no evidence for any of the perennial claims. So in a way there's not much to discuss regarding dopers beyond the garden fence rumours and fingerpointing other than silent bans wouldn't make much sense to pursue?

I think what Agassi showed was that how easy in the past it was to avoid bans/suspensions. It does open up how since then when it was 1998 I think he tested positive and how he managed to avoid a ban and how it avoided public scrutiny.

As much as I would agree with Federer's suggestion for storage of blood would bring with it disclosure/confidentiality issues. For example what if players had blood borne conditions/infections such as HIV/Hepatitis. They would want disclosure and confidentiality and yet players/trainers would obviously want to know such things should they come into contact with players whom may have these conditions and risk spreading for example a tumble on court and a player bleeds, how would a trainer feel dealing with players or run the risk of passing the conditions on?

What if a player suffers Polycythaemia which causes a person to have a high red blood cell count. How quick would WADA/ITF be to 'suspend' a player for recording a high count? Even though it is a genuine condition, the damage 'publically' would've been done. Even though evidence suggests otherwise, they were still suspended and that is like a chain and ball round the neck. Look at Gasquet. How many still think 'Hmmmmm was it really a kiss?'

I think while there are genuine cases like Dolgopolov who has Gilbert's syndrome and you have Nadal who has chronic joint injuries who uses PRP to recover from injury, because so much is still unknown how this could affect performance levels and whether it has been misused for anything but injury treatments. WADA have really distanced themselves on what they would classify blood doping in terms of PRP and it's use. It is not so far fetched to get 'doctors' to falsify reports of an athlete using it for injury. That is no accusation on my behalf, but it does raises questions which do not have a straight forward answer that help PRP being used for 'honest' reasons.

Any time people want to make accusations, remember the egg chamber Djokovic used in 2011 and yet there hasn't been any further public news he has used it in 2012 and his performances have not been near that level of last year. Isn't that quite bizarre coincidence?

What about the rumours of Federer using EPO in 2008 when having quite the season despite claims of 'suffering' mono yet we have seen such a condition that has wreck the careers of Ancic and Soderling. How did Federer manage to reach 3 GS Finals and win 1 against such adversity? Again another strange coincidence.

Whilst all that looks quite 'dodgy' why not look at other facts. Like the evolution of technology and sports nutrition? How much of that has transcended sport. Coupled with the increase in population decade by decade. Take 1950 when the global population was 1.4 billion and yet in 2012 it topped 8 billion. Do the maths. By the laws of probability and averages aren't we more likely to generate stronger athletes from a pool of 8 billion than with 1.4 billion?

Sorry for such a long post guys

It's a great post, very thought provoking so don't see why you should apologise at all legend - too tired and too dim atm to comment intelligently on your points so I will re read tomorrow

LK
No doubt if you look with a cynical eye there have been plenty of dodgy goings on in tennis over the years, same as in all sports.

My suspicion is that doping in tennis happens, but that it is far less prevalent than in many other sports, and that there are few (if any) players who are on a systematic PED programme. More likely a few guys sail close to the wind on the rules with regard to products used for recovery.

Drug testing, particularly out of competition testing and blood tests probably should be more widely used, but at least largely on the basis of preventing doping becoming more widespread rather than to catch current cheats.

Obviously there would be some improvement in stamina obtained by the use of EPO or blood doping (although the latter is difficult with the near year-round schedule of the tennis calendar), and improvements in power and recovery from steroid use, although in the latter case the increase in muscle bulk would off-set some (all and more?) of the advantage. It is interesting to me that tennis players have actually tended to get a bit smaller (at least in physique if not height) over the last decade or so - now the solidly built guys like Nadal or Tsonga are rare, whereas in the Becker and Lendl era that sort of body shape was closer to the norm. Stongly suggests that steroid abuse is not a big issue.

It's hard to say whether the silent suspension thing is true or not, but I would lean towards not. There is little or no actual evidence for it.