Also, here's some other news:
London 2012 Olympics: drug cheats are set to face most advanced anti-doping procedures in Games history
Alarming trend of doping among school athletes
British sprinter Bernice Wilson handed 4-year ban after failing doping test
Brazilian swimmer Fabiola Molina gets increased 6-month doping ban from sports court
Testers no match for 'clever doper'
Update
Australian Open Week 1
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| Search Keywords: 2012 Jan 14 21:00 – 2012 Jan 21 20:00 |
Nice work, Sen No. That is the kind of detail that is necessary (and I was too lazy to do). If nothing else, it now gets rid of one of the excuses of sports journalists that this blog is only about pictures and seditious speculation. They aren't interested in facts. They aren't interested in excessively muscular and powerful tennis players. They aren't interested in obvious distortions from players regarding injuries and "illnesses". In short, they want to just keep hiding in their safe rooms, collecting their paychecks while pretending that tennis is a clean sport.
ReplyDeleteThe ever growing list of tennis players who have contracted MONONUCLEOSIS.
Deletehttp://www.tennisplayerquotes.com/men-association-tennis-professionals/robin-soderling-and-philipp-petzschner-fall-to-mononucleosis/
During last night's Raonic/Hewitt match Fowler and Cahill were discussing Raonic's game. For the record Raonic, at least to me, isn't under suspicion. He's a big hitter but doesn't display ridiculous stamina or anything like that. Anyway, Cahill stated that Raonic's game is like "Todd Martin's game on steroids.."...his exact words. Fowler replied something to the effect of "of course he isn't on steroids...not with the way they're tested in this sport..." then he went on to summarize by stating, in his exact words, that there is "constant testing in this sport."....really, Chris?..."constant testing????"
ReplyDeleteAgain, for the record, I'm not suspicious of Raonic (I am suspicious of Hewitt, however)...but this site has exposed both myths - quantity of testing and quality of testing. They are "constantly" tested only a handful of times per year with urinalysis methods that most likely wouldn't catch players anyway...keep up the good fight, SNR and THASP...ESPN really really really doesn't want tennis to be exposed, especially now that they've committed to all the majors...depressing stuff.
Suspicious? Cmon, Hewitt is John Cena with a racket
ReplyDeleteI agree. It was so obvious Hewitt is on steroids. He looked twice as big as in the past (despite being a PED user then), the veins are huge and his madness on court gets wilder, roids rage you call it right?
ReplyDeleteI also think Raonic is on something. First cause he has been using the same doctor as Nadal and he purposely chose Nadal's doctor. His legs are pretty big, typical of this new generation of tall players which can move as well as the smaller players (Murray, Berdych, Soderling, etc...). Unseen before.
SNR. Thanks for the great work. I don't post much anymore but I read you article. I just think it would be great if you could post less actually cause the frequency of your articles doesn't give us much time to discuss them all bewteen ourlseves.
Thanks, Andrea. A lot of content recently, I know. I made a conscious choice to come out guns blazing for the Australian Open. I realized that it has some drawbacks, but I felt that a consistent stream of content made sense given that we usually get a big bump in traffic during Grand Slam events.
DeleteAgree on SNR's great work in compiling all the info and data. However, I don't mean to be pessimistic but the problem is not lack of information or data but rather absence of willingness to know. Tennis has become like wrestling. People know it's a cheating act but they're enjoying it. People know deep inside that the running around the court, constant ball retrieving, and those ridiculous comebacks are all a performance but it is a thrilling and bankable one.
ReplyDeleteI share your pessimistic outlook. The tennis press is all about promoting tennis, pumping up the player rivalries and personalities just like in professional wrestling. It's not real coverage/journalism.
DeleteA wonderful fresh illustration of your succinct definition of what "tennis press (in this case, sadly, the commentators' department) is all about": Simon Reed, during the Kohlschreiber vs. del Potro match, warmed up the old Boris (Pain-in-the-Neck) Becker's "psychological insight" (curiously smelling of some nasty paradigms of the past) that "some players subconsciously know their true ranking and position"... The subtle undertone of Schmerz-Freude might, though, merely be a product of my own imagination.
Delete"People know it's a cheating act but they're enjoying it." I don't know, SamsGenes, the doping has killed it for me. I used to play competition tennis up until college, and followed it afterward. Up until a few years ago, when I started getting suspicious and reading this blog, one of my greatest pleasures was watching the grand slams on tv. Now it seems meaningless, and I don't follow it or watch anything but the final. I follow this blog and not the tennis! A rather ludicrous state of affairs. Mike N
ReplyDeleteCustoms reveals steroid abuse is skyrocketing
ReplyDeleteBy Henry Budd
From: The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia)
August 15, 2011
"The amount of steroids being smuggled into [Australia] at airports and through the postal system has more than doubled in the past five years, according to Customs figures. Customs made 2695 seizures of steroids and growth hormones in the year to July 2010, a 155 per cent increase on the 1054 seizures made in 2004-05."
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/national/after-aziz-zyzz-sergeyevich-shavershian-dies-in-thailand-customs-reveals-steroid-abuse-is-skyrocketing/story-e6frfkvr-1226114913389#ixzz1kECiSF8O
Those google search stats are really interesting! Almost can't believe Stosur is by far the name most searched for. Don't get me wrong, her muscles look extremely suspiciously 'enhanced', but no way more than Serena, who is basically a bundle of steroids, with a nervous system hidden in there somewhere.
ReplyDeleteAnd Nadal only a small mention, Djokovic not at all! Maybe everyone's just used to Djokovic cleaning up all his opponents, it's no longer even news after 12 solid months of it.
Could not agree more with you, Mystery. I think that the reason lies in the ease with which under-informed and naive people can be manipulated, i.e. misled by any brightly red herring - such as Serena's, Jokeovic's and Nadal's (three most obvious dopers in the game) tall stories and "explanations", which the media (whose true role SnR defined above) eagerly embrace and never miss a chance to disseminate. Poor Stosur is, to her credit (!), beyond such slimy practices.
DeleteSerena out! Whatever the credibility of her opponent, this is good news.
DeleteOnce more: I could not agree more with you, Mystery! I wish her farewell from WTA and welcome to some Reality Show or another!
DeleteJust watched a bit of Ferrer-Gasquet. Ferrer is one of those players where I could swear, with 100%, absolute certainty, under penalty of getting both hands chopped off if I were wrong, that he is doped. Every shot is atrocious, he muscles the ball in the most painful way imaginable for the spectator. Gasquet was overpowered, big time.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting Blog – I’ve just stumbled upon it. Now that you come to mention it, there are some really beefy specimens on the ATP Tour – and their stamina & powers of recovery are unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteHmmm.
I like that you’re trying to get quantitative data on the matter - particularly the testing data. For what it’s worth, here is my rather cautious initial analysis of some of the problems in athletics in the 1980s. I’ve posted repeatedly about the “Eighties Anomaly” in performances – particularly in the women’s explosive events – prior to the introduction of out-of-competition dope testing:
http://biotechnorati.co.uk/2011/03/strange-patterns-in-the-performances-in-womens-throwing-events.html
I hope that this is of some interest to you. Good luck with your campaign!
Good work, Nick, - and a pity there is no more reaction to it. Put it down to fashion: tennis, and some other sports, are simply more "in" than such an ancient sport as athletics is. But there's more to it all than just fashion, the Wheel of Time keeps on turning and, to quote Fairport Convention, "who knows where the time goes". Be as it may, keep up the good work! I, for one, appreciate it.
ReplyDelete