Monday 30 March 2015


It has recently come to light about the 15 year ban of Wayne Odesnik for what is his second doping offence. Rightly slammed by the likes of Andy Murray, although it doesn't exactly bring the game into disrepute, it does leave a cloud hanging over it that leads me to the question:

Is it happening more than we think? We already know about Marin Cilic and Viktor Troicki, who have already served their time (Cilic had his ban reduced which split opinion) but what can be done to make sure the game's reputation isn't tarnished further?

That leads me to match fixing. Players have been found guilty but is it happening more than we think? And if one of today's top stars was found guilty, would they be protected slightly or would they receive the full, fair punishment? No one is above the game, and that includes the likes of Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. This is hypothetical of course but what if? ....
Also, how about players pulling out of matches and tournaments when they're perfectly fine just days later to play a crucial Davis Cup tie or another big event? Is there a way of making sure things are done according to the real, proper reasons?

Another word on match fixing. How easy or difficult would it actually be to fix a match? How could we know? Betting patterns and strange behaviour and calamitous 'chokes' by certain players during matches often give a clue as to what must occasionally at least be irregular behaviour. Of course tennis being the gripping and exciting sport it is, crazy things do happen. Players come back, plenty of players upset the odds, I could go on. I'm merely stating that surely things aren't always as simple as this.

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