In a report in the English newspaper “Mail on Sunday”, the tennis world association ITF is accused of having announced doping tests to players in advance.
Accordingly, the ITF is said to have warned the players before the US Open 2021 that they would have to submit a blood sample for the biological athlete passport (ABP). The professionals were also asked before the US Open 2019 and this year’s Miami Open at the end of March to book time slots for these tests via the online anti-doping portal, the newspaper writes.
According to the newspaper, a corresponding message from Nicole Sapstead, head of the ITF’s anti-doping program, is available. This would have given the players four days’ lead time for their test. “I don’t think the ITF should announce when it will test athletes,” Luis Horta, the former head of the Portuguese Anti-Doping Agency, was quoted as saying.
The ITF Anti-Doping Program is administered by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), an independent body. “We are fully compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code,” said the ITIA on Sunday on request.
World Federation takes blood samples all year round
The World Anti-Doping Agency’s “Guidelines for the Athlete Biological Passport” on “Doping Control and Definition of Target Athletes” states that targeted testing should be preferred to random testing in order to improve the effectiveness of the ABP. In addition, the detection of doping will be improved “if both in-competition and out-of-competition doping tests are strategically distributed throughout the year without prior notice”.