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By Blair Henley / Monday, January 17, 2014
Serving a doping suspension is an experience no athlete
wants to add to his or her resume. Find out how three tour
players have handled their return to the court after facing
the unthinkable.
Photo Credit: Metro.co.uk, Getty Images
Imagine walking into your longtime place of work and
feeling like an outcast, like people are staring at you or
talking behind your back. It’s an unsettling thought, and a
potential reality for tennis stars returning to the sport after
serving a doping suspension.
Three Cases, Three Different Stories
“Black Wednesday” at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships saw a
record seven players retire or withdraw from the
tournament due to injury. Then ranked No.
18, Marin Cilic pulled out with knee
pain, or, at least that’s what he told the media. But the
soft-spoken Croat was far from injured. He had accepted a
voluntary provisional suspension from the International Tennis
Federation (ITF) after being notified that he tested positive
for nikethamide, a banned stimulant, at the BMW Open
in early May. Under ITF rules, players are not compelled to
disclose a positive test unless an ITF anti-doping tribunal
finds them “guilty” and subsequently imposes a ban.
The truth behind Cilic’s absence leaked last summer along with
an explanation. After finishing off his glucose tablets during
the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters in April, he sent his
mother to procure a refill. She unintentionally returned with a
tainted supplement. Though it’s important to view doping
offenses, and the excuses they elicit, with a critical eye, it
appeared that Cilic’s positive test was likely the result of an
innocent mistake.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport would agree, shortening the
nine-month ban handed down by the ITF to just four months. The
25-year-old would return to the tour in late October at the BNP
Paribas Masters. Admittedly, he wasn’t sure what to expect.
Would he be shunned? Would he be welcomed back?
“The reaction from all the players was really positive,” Cilic
told Tennis Now at the Australian Open. “At
the first tournament at Bercy, they were all very happy to see
me. That was huge relief for me as I was bit worried how
they’ll all react. After two days, I was feeling that I haven’t
even missed any of the tournaments in the last season as
relationships between me and other players were the same as
before. It meant a lot to me, definitely.”
***
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, a
27-year-old pro from the Czech Republic, served a six-month ban
after ingesting a banned stimulant (sibutramine) in the
supplement Acai
Berry Thin. Before ordering the weight loss aid online, she
called the company to confirm the “all natural” claim on the
website. They assured her it was safe for an athlete to take.
They were wrong. The ITF tested Zahlavova Strycova three times
(both blood and urine) during the first three weeks she used the
supplement. She was understandably devastated upon receiving the
bad news.
“I got, like, six emails saying that I’ve been positive,” she
told Tennis Now. “I was reading it, and I couldn’t
believe it because first of all, I didn’t know where it came
from. I thought I was eating everything natural.”
When she returned to the tour in April of 2013, she, too, was
concerned about the locker room atmosphere.
“I was a little bit scared to come back,” Zahlavova Strycova
said. “[I thought] the players would be looking at me, but they
were great. They were really nice. A lot of players told me they
are happy to have me back. Julia Goerges, Jill Craybas, Czech
players — they are really nice.”
But that understanding from fellow players is likely a direct
result of perceived innocence. Assuming their stories are true,
Cilic and Zahlavova Strycova are cautionary tales; those careless
mistakes could have taken down any top tour player.
***
The same cannot be said for American Wayne
Odesnik. In early 2010, Australian authorities caught
the now 28-year-old attempting to import eight vials of HGH into
the country. The ITF initially imposed a two-year ban, virtually
a given for such an offense, but months later shortened it to one
year after he provided the governing body of tennis with
“substantial
assistance.”
Not only was Odesnik’s offense egregious and intentional, but
with the “substantial assistance” revelation, players also saw
him as a rat, a snitch. Making matters worse, Odesnik’s name
surfaced again in 2013 during the investigation into the Miami clinic that allegedly supplied steroids
to Alex Rodriguez and other top sports
stars.
Odesnik lost in the first round of Wimbledon last year, but
officials ushered him into the main interview room to face the
media regarding the allegations out of South Florida.The
line of questioning intensified so quickly – Did you
have a relationship with anyone at the clinic? What substantial
assistance have you provided? Will there always be a cloud
hanging over your career? – that the moderator was
forced to cut the press conference short.
And it’s not just media members who have questioned Odesnik’s
place in professional tennis. Andy
Roddick called for a lifetime ban.
“That’s just plain cheating, and they should throw him out of
tennis,” Roddick said. “There’s just no room for it.”
Another fellow American, James Blake, said
he wouldn’t be welcoming Odesnik into the fold.
“I wouldn’t say that he’s at our dinner table too often,
that he’s at our card games too often,” Blake
said in 2011. “I actually don’t think I’ve said a whole lot
to him since he’s been back.”
If Odesnik, currently ranked No. 139, had won his first-round
match at the 2014 Australian Open, he would have
faced Andy Murray. Instead, he lost in five
sets to Vincent Millot. Murray, who
has publicly
condemned Odesnik in the past, took a jab at the
American when asked to comment on his second-round match.
“I’ll try and watch a bit of video of his match from today to see
how he plays,” Murray said of Millot. “But I’m glad he won,” he
added with contempt.
Odesnik may never publicly admit it, but the cloud hanging over
his career, the one mentioned by the journalist at Wimbledon, is
very real and, most likely, permanent.
Renewed Perspective
Cilic, Zahlavova Strycova and Odesnik all faced months away from
competition; probably the longest layoffs they have had in their
careers. But there is life after a doping ban. Each player – even
Odesnik – emerged with a renewed outlook on life and sport.
“I have a different perspective, and also I have more fun and
appreciation to be playing,” Cilic confirmed, even though
his ranking currently sits nearly 20 spots below its pre-ban
location. “To be that long away from tennis was mentally tough
but I am enjoying my time on the tour much more than I used to. I
feel it’s a new beginning for me. This time, simple things are
making me much happier, just being able to play and to be hitting
tennis balls.”
Immediately following his return to the tour in 2011, even
Odesnik forced himself to see the positive in his experience.
“You know, I’m 25, and there’s still a lot of tennis to be played
ahead of me,” he told SB Nation upon his
return. “I’m excited. It’s rejuvenated my career, in a sense,
because I’m a lot hungrier. I’m working every day, as hard as I
can, whether I had no ranking or I’m No. 150 in the world. So, I
think in that sense, it’s only going to help my career.”
Zahlavova Strycova has been back on tour for nearly one year and
has worked her way back to a ranking of 84. The petite Czech took
center stage at the Australian Open when she
faced Victoria Azarenka in the second
round. Though she didn’t pull off the upset on Rod Laver Arena,
you can bet she savored every minute of the battle.
“I see some things very different right now,” she explained.
“Tennis is a game and it’s a nice game. What happened
to me, it had positive stuff because I could relax and I could
think about the game, about tennis, about life. I enjoy it much
more right now.”
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