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Serena Lashes Out At Disproportionate Drug Testing
10 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Scoop
The 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams is not happy about the amount of times she has been targeted for drug testing. The 36 year old American revealed on Twitter that she has drug-tested yet again in 2018 — and she accused anti-doping authorities of racial discrimination for subjecting her to considerably more tests than her WTA competitors.
“It’s that time of day to get ‘randomly’ drug tested and only test Serena,” Williams posted on Twitter. “Out of all the players its been proven I’m the one getting tested the most. Discrimination? I think so. At least I’ll be keeping the sport clean.”
A Deadspin report earlier this year said Williams was tested five times through mid June, while US Open champion Sloane Stephens and US Open finalist Madison Keys have only been tested once each in that same time period. Sister Venus Williams and fellow American Fed Cup teammate Coco Vandeweghe were tested twice in about the same time period.
Perhaps Serena is being scrutinized due to earlier instances of curious actions, such as the time when she dodged a home drug test and fled to her so-called panic room. Viktor Troicki also dodged a random drug test after a match, which he lost, and delayed the test until the following morning. And then was still hit with a one year ban for dodging the original test after the match.
After a French reporter asked Williams about the banned substances she took via the TUE (therapeutic use exemption) that the Russian hackers “Fancy Bears” revealed after breaking into the World Anti-Doping Agency dtabase, Serena abruptly ended the interview.
There was also the Wimbledon doubles match four years ago with Venus during which Serena appeared to be drunk or high on some kind of drug.
So Williams is a prime suspect to be tested repeatedly by authorities. Her incredible achievements and successes at such an advanced age evoke curiosity and suspicion. The fact that Serena is responding the way she is to drug testing attempts adds further to the suspicion. She should just accept the tests and be confident that what the testers discover will always be negative samples and results.
For a clean athlete has nothing to hide or fear. A cheating athlete, on the other hand, has a lot to worry about.
Being Serena · Doping · PEDs · Serena
Joe Blow · July 25, 2018 at 4:31 pm
Someone in her camp should tell her being such a Drama Queen has its effects. All these near death experiences that she has had over the years, must worry the Doping testers.
She cut her foot, turned into a near death experience, yet she was dancing in 7 inch heels on a table, two days later. Childbirth was a near death experience, she is the first woman to have a tough delivery in her drama.. She has a TUE script..
This story actually made Local news .. Tennis will take any publicity
Jacques · July 26, 2018 at 9:28 am
Would love to know the
details of her TUEs. Seems to be part of every
top athlete’s playbook. Look at Sharapova—forced
to give up her PED and now just part of the crowd
in women’s tennis. TUEs and obscure not-yet-banned
substances always seem to be a factor for the
dominant athletes in various sports. Consistent
top performance has become a red flag.
Scoop Malinowski · July 26, 2018 at 9:58 am
Jacques; The administrators of the TUE probably won’t say anything revealing. But take note of these quotes:
“There will be doping for as long as there is commercial sports, performance-related shoe contracts and television contracts.” — “I’ve created 20 different drugs that are still undetectable for the doping testers.” — Angel Heredia
“I have heard of cases of the ITF covering up positive drug tests.” – Jonas Bjorkman 1998
“If Agassi or Sampras ever tested positive for nandrolone you guys in the media would never hear about it because those players are too important to the economics of the Tour.” – Marcelo Rios
Joe Blow · July 26, 2018 at 10:58 am
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2018/07/serena-williams-drug-testing-tues-theraputic-use-discrimination/75548/
Duke Carnoustie · July 27, 2018 at 12:53 am
Poor Serena. First she was the first black player ever. Then the first ever to have a bad line call go against her. Then she was the first pregnant player ever. Now she is the first to get drug tested often.
Of course, nothing I wrote is true. But to listen to her tell it…
Scoop is right, a clean athlete has nothing to fear.
Scoop Malinowski · July 27, 2018 at 9:10 am
The weird part of this story is that Serena is still the moneymaker for women’s tennis. Her Kerber final did better TV ratings in the US than the Djok-Anderson final. For the powers that be to allegedly conspire to target her for excessive doping testing to try to catch her and ban her does not make sense. Unless some deep pocketed entity is behind it and manipulating WADA to hunt down Serena. Also, Serena should have nothing to worry about if she’s clean she will test negative every time and she can thumb her nose at the testers. Hopefully Serena will not make the decision to get cheat with PEDs and get caught. She obviously has a lot to lose.
Scoop Malinowski · July 27, 2018 at 9:34 am
I will tell you before Duke tells you, Nadia Petrova gave birth to her first baby a girl yesterday.
Scoop Malinowski · July 27, 2018 at 2:46 pm
Hey Serena!! Most tested US tennis players:
Bob Bryan: 56(!)
Mike Bryan: 43
Venus Williams: 43
John Isner: 42
Serena Williams: 41
Hartt · July 27, 2018 at 8:15 pm
I think Bob Bryan has cause for complaint – getting tested 13 times more than his twin brother. 🙂
Joe Blow · July 27, 2018 at 8:22 pm
Maybe if you have one of those TUE’s, you should get tested more than other players that don’t. Hiding something under the cover of the TUE