Rafa Complaining

[Federberg]

^I have some sympathy with your comment about the invasion of privacy issue on testing BS, but the sad fact is that if it was done in any other way it would be open to abuse. This is the problem. I think guys like Murray and Nadal know this, so when I heard their moans about this I was a bit disgusted with them.

So while it seems harsh on those poor little millionaires it's a fact of life if they want to be able to claim - with any credibility - that they're clean. Alternatively they could just do away with the whole drug testing and be done with it. The only problem I would have with that is, I hate the idea of teenagers taking stuff just so they could get into the elite group. That's the only issue that makes me care about it to be honest

 

[brokenshoelace]

^I have some sympathy with your comment about the invasion of privacy issue on testing BS, but the sad fact is that if it was done in any other way it would be open to abuse. This is the problem. I think guys like Murray and Nadal know this, so when I heard their moans about this I was a bit disgusted with them.

So while it seems harsh on those poor little millionaires it's a fact of life if they want to be able to claim - with any credibility - that they're clean. Alternatively they could just do away with the whole drug testing and be done with it. The only problem I would have with that is, I hate the idea of teenagers taking stuff just so they could get into the elite group. That's the only issue that makes me care about it to be honest

They don't need to claim they are clean. The tests are there. If they come back clean, so are the players (now, I know reality might be different, but that's a whole other topic. We go by what we know and what the tests can prove).

So, as long as they're passing drug tests, I don't see what's wrong with complaining a very particular element of testing procedures.

 

[Front242]

Clean tests mean nothing and Lance Armstrong is living proof of that.

 

[Front242]

^I have some sympathy with your comment about the invasion of privacy issue on testing BS, but the sad fact is that if it was done in any other way it would be open to abuse. This is the problem. I think guys like Murray and Nadal know this, so when I heard their moans about this I was a bit disgusted with them.

So while it seems harsh on those poor little millionaires it's a fact of life if they want to be able to claim - with any credibility - that they're clean. Alternatively they could just do away with the whole drug testing and be done with it. The only problem I would have with that is, I hate the idea of teenagers taking stuff just so they could get into the elite group. That's the only issue that makes me care about it to be honest

Couldn't have put it better. If you're making millions from sport you surely know you have to comply with their regulations even if you don't like them, and even so, as I pointed out earlier, the testing in tennis is still beyond pathetic and practically nothing is done out of competition but yet some still moan. Again, you make a lot of money, you agree to comply and act like a grown up and not moan about the frankly pretty laid back doping controls. For the record, they have to let the testers know where they'll be for 1 hour each day and even that gives them time to use saline to flush out their system before the testers arrive so they shouldn't even tell them at all and just turn up. The system is supposedly "Draconian" per Murray but it's still totally flawed imo. Armstrong frequently got saline just in time to flush out his system in hotel rooms and even getting his team members to smuggle it past the testers at checkpoints.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Clean tests mean nothing and Lance Armstrong is living proof of that.

OK, so what can Nadal and Murray do?

 

[Front242]

Clean tests mean nothing and Lance Armstrong is living proof of that.

OK, so what can Nadal and Murray do?

Not moan about the doping controls at all and just comply.

 

[Federberg]

^Is that right? They have to make their whereabouts known for 1hr each day? Do they choose at what time or is that bit out of their hands? You're right, it still gives them a chance to prepare. It's difficult to drum up sympathy for them. They already feel entitled enough as it is!

 

[Front242]

^Is that right? They have to make their whereabouts known for 1hr each day? Do they choose at what time or is that bit out of their hands? You're right, it still gives them a chance to prepare. It's difficult to drum up sympathy for them. They already feel entitled enough as it is!

Pretty sure they choose the time which makes it even more stupid but must look into it online later. Heading off to the gym now.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Clean tests mean nothing and Lance Armstrong is living proof of that.

OK, so what can Nadal and Murray do?

Not moan about the doping controls at all and just comply.

But I thought clean tests mean nothing.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Couldn't have put it better. If you're making millions from sport you surely know you have to comply with their regulations even if you don't like them

Uh, they DO comply, otherwise I'm pretty sure they'd be banned. Criticizing something =/= not complying.

 

[Front242]

^Is that right? They have to make their whereabouts known for 1hr each day? Do they choose at what time or is that bit out of their hands? You're right, it still gives them a chance to prepare. It's difficult to drum up sympathy for them. They already feel entitled enough as it is!

Actually a quick search and yes they have to tell the testers where they are which basically says, ok, we know we have to be here in 1 hour, let's inject saline just before. So it's a useless testing measure. 100% useless and impossible to be caught unless you're a complete moron.

What is the whereabouts program?

The whereabouts program requires players to notify the ITF of their whereabouts during a one-hour window of each day of the year. During that one-hour window, the player must be available for testing at a specific location (i.e., the player’s hotel, a restaurant, a photo shoot, etc.). The whereabouts program applies to all players, men and women, who finished inside the Top 50 during the previous year, as well as the Top 10 doubles players and the Top 5 wheelchair and quad players.

http://www.tennis.com/players/2010/04/faq-drug-testing-and-doping-in-tennis/21954/#.VC6tmBbPC2U

 

[Front242]

Couldn't have put it better. If you're making millions from sport you surely know you have to comply with their regulations even if you don't like them

Uh, they DO comply, otherwise I'm pretty sure they'd be banned. Criticizing something =/= not complying.

I know that, I meant the moaning part obviously. Don't moan about testing as it makes you look bad for obvious reasons. They're grown men but haven't spoken to the media like they are till their teams told them to act their age and man up.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Couldn't have put it better. If you're making millions from sport you surely know you have to comply with their regulations even if you don't like them

Uh, they DO comply, otherwise I'm pretty sure they'd be banned. Criticizing something =/= not complying.

I know that, I meant to the moaning part obviously. They're grown men but haven't spoken to the media like they are till their teams told them to act their age and man up.

You mean till they felt compiled to defend the image of the sport that gave them millions, which is what any responsible athlete would have done.

Again, you conveniently did not respond to that part: They were ASKED about this. What would you have them say? "No, I'm against drug testing even though Lance Armstrong just tarnished his entire sport?"

Be real. You live in fantasy land where you expect every athlete (actually, just the ones you don't like) to always be consistent and do/say the right things. It's ludicrous.

 

[Front242]

No, I live in a world where other players I follow have never questioned the system and then revoked their comments to make themselves look better years later.

 

[Federberg]

I must admit the cynical side of me (which admittedly is pretty much all of me!), always felt that when these complaints get made, it's just their way of letting the world know that they're regularly tested. Ergo they must be clean..

 

[brokenshoelace]

No, I live in a world where other players I follow have never questioned the system and then revoked their comments to make themselves look better years later.

Do you think Nadal changed his stance because he thought people remembered comments he made 5 years earlier, or to protect the image of tennis?

 

[brokenshoelace]

Also, by the way, Nadal didn't actually change his stance. He explicitly still mentioned that he wants players' privacy to be respected, which was his issue with testing. He was just really careful how he phrased his sentence.

 

[Federberg]

Maybe he's learnt how to express himself better in English!

 

[brokenshoelace]

Anyway, I want Front to go to the Fed-Cilic thread and be this outraged over Fed's defense of Cilic, especially after Front himself went crazy in that thread about how "easy it is to dope in tennis."

I mean, don't you expect the players you follow not to be hypocritical enough to support drug testing only to defend cheats? Or does that only apply to players you dislike. But yeah, right, we're biased.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Maybe he's learnt how to express himself better in English!

I just don't see how someone can read a comment which state (and I'm paraphrasing here), "I would like to seem ore drug testing. it's important for the image of tennis. But at the same time, the privacy of athlete should be respected" and take issue with it.

There's nothing hypocritical about this comment. It's actually consistent with what Nadal said when he criticized drug testing before, when he strictly mentioned privacy, respect, etc...