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news
Andy Murray, US Open 2012, Francisco Diez, Wikimedia CommonsAndy Murray slams cycling for lack of skill and too many drugs… not like tennis
Andy Murray, the world number three ranked tennis player, says his sport needs to step up its anti-doping efforts including out-of-competition testing – but maintains that tennis differs from cycling in being primarily focused on the skill of the athlete, something he believes doesn’t apply in cycling, which he claims is more about physical attributes.
“I think there's very little skill involved in the Tour de France, it's pretty much just physical," said Murray, quoted in the Herald. "A lot of the way the teams work now is just science whereas with tennis, you can't teach the skill by taking a drug.
"Virtually the whole of the Tour de France was taking drugs 10 years ago,” he maintained, claiming that since 1990 tennis had seen around “65 positive tests, 10 of them recreational and 30 to 35 performance-enhancing in that time.”
The Olympic and US Open men’s singles champion, speaking in a press conference ahead of this week’s Paribas Paris Masters that was reported by Mail Online and The Herald, added in a sweeping generalisation that apparently went unchallenged: “In one year of the Tour de France you had more than that so I don't think tennis has been that bad. But that isn't to say that more can't be done to make it 100% sure there are no issues."
Admittedly, in the notorious Festina Tour of 1998, there was clear evidence of wholesale doping involving a number of teams, and fewer than half the riders who set out from Dublin finished the race in Paris due to expulsions and withdrawals, but not a single rider actually tested positive.
The truth is that with no test for EPO at the time, the riders had an advantage over the testers, and it was only by seizing the physical drugs that the authorities were able to unravel the scale of the problem.
While cycling clearly still isn’t rid of doping, and in all likelihood never will be, there is a much higher level of testing than is the case in tennis. However, Murray implies that due to the nature of their sport, tennis players have less to gain from using performance enhancing drugs, although there are longstanding rumours linking several leading tennis players to use of steroids in particular to help build their strength.
In the past, he has criticised the intrusiveness of random testing, but now believes it is essential to combat doping, especially in the off season.
“The out-of-competition stuff could probably get better,” admitted the 25-year-old, who revealed he himself had been subject to a random blood test at the weekend.
“When we’re in December, when people are training and setting their bases, it would be good to do more around that time.
“On Saturday night it was completely random and that’s good because we’re not used to doing many blood tests.
“I’ve probably had four or five blood tests this year, but a lot more urine, so it’s obviously completely necessary when you hear things like about [Lance] Armstrong.
“It’s a shame for their sport but how they managed to get away with it was incredible, for so long.”
Critics of tennis’s approach to doping argue however that that the sport must do much more to address the issue and that it does far too little testing particularly of top players.
In 2010, for example, a year that Murray spent ranked between third and fifth in the world, he did not undergo a single out-of-competition test.
During the same year, there were no out-of competition tests on three of the top five ranked women’s players – world number one Caroline Wozniacki, plus Venus and Serena Williams.
Earlier this month, an article on the website of the US magazine Tennis Now explored various hypotheses regarding doping in tennis and pointed out that while according to World Anti Doping Agency Statistics for the period from 2007 to 2011, the International Tennis Federation showed 53 positive tests, there were only 21 anti-doping rule violations recorded in the same period.
The magazine quoted the blog Tennis Has a Steroid Problem as asking: “What accounts for the difference between positive tests and violations? Did players have Therapeutic Use Exemptions allowing them to use a banned substance? Did their 'B' Sample test negative? Did a tribunal find that the players did not commit a violation? If so, what was the reason for their finding?”
While high profile doping cases in the sport remain few and far between – the biggest in recent years being when the American player Wayne Odesnik was caught red-handed with human growth hormone at Brisbane airport, eventually serving a 12-month ban, reduced from an original two years – tennis itself is now facing some uncomfortable questions.
In August, when former US Postal Service team doctor Luis Garcia del Moral was handed a lifetime ban by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, the ITF acknowledged that he had worked with “various tennis players.”
It said that it would help enforce and give effect to USADA’s decision, including “not permitting Dr Garcia del Moral to participate in any capacity in, and denying him accreditation for or access to, any sanctioned tennis event or activity.”
The ITF added: “Players are asked to take careful note of the above when considering who to seek treatment, guidance and advice from in the future.”
Also in Spain, Dr Eufemiano Fuentes, the sports physician at the centre of the Operacion Puerto scandal in which athletes sanctioned were almost exclusively cyclists and non-Spanish nationals, has maintained in the past that he counted tennis players among his clients.
Whether he will name names or provide further details of his activities when the case goes to trial in Madrid in the new year remains to be seen.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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83 comments
If
"In 2010, for example, a year that Murray spent ranked between third and fifth in the world, he did not undergo a single out-of-competition test."
then this
"since 1990 tennis had seen around “65 positive tests, 10 of them recreational and 30 to 35 performance-enhancing in that time.”"
isn't a suprise.
As you tire your concentration and skill levels fade, that plus high prize money means there will be drugs at the top level. To the extent of endurance sports like road racing, maybe not, but then again it wouldn't suprise me if it was a similar level if testing is lax.
If his theory that there is more skill than strength involved in tennis then why is there a need to split the sport by gender? Unless he's wanting to open another can of worms within his own sport rather than poking sticks at another...
What cycling really needs right now is constructive input to help rebuild both it's reputation and also it's governance. Best example of this right now is #fansbackedcycling and it's that sort of collective that I think we (and that's the you and me "we") should be looking to gain some momentum at grass roots level. The pro's could also then do their part at the tree-top level by following some of Mr Lemond's recent advice and rising up against the UCI
That's just my tuppence worth though:)
Talking of skill in cycling, I remember (of all people) Lance Armstrong being forced to go off road in the TdF. The skill he used in not winding up a tangled mess of sinew and bicycle frame matches anything I've ever seen in tennis. Shame about the old "you know what" though.
Easy for Murray to say when he competes in an elitist sport where your mummy is your coach or you need parents with deep pockets to mortgage their house for the best coaching to develop that skill!!!
Still, he has FINALLY won a Grand Slam so that makes him an expert on everyone elses sport. Remove head from arse and smell the roses Murray, you may have some respect then for other sports and then gain some more respect from other.
Better still get on a bike at the top of a mountain and see how any minutes you are behind an average club rider at the bottom, let alone a pro. Then he can compare his skill!!!
Ill thought of comment by him but what do you expect, probably too much sunshine from wherever he is away traing while real sportsmen are out training on bikes in all weathers!!
forgot to mention vastly over paid, never smiles (wonder what his girl friend sees in him $$$$ - sorry I forgot) and to have your mummy follow you around every match day to change his diaper!
The majority of top sports people have only ever been involved in their sport, and don't know what it takes to be the best at another.
He's probably right that in terms of the training at top level, tennis will focus more on the skills required to hit the ball, while cycling will focus on the fitness/speed/endurance required to race (as the skills of actually riding the bike will probably be complete by that stage). You don't often here cyclists talking about going back to basics and relearning how to ride, but you do hear tennis players talking about taking their serve apart and relearning it.
He has a point in saying he doesn't know how they got away with it for so long. They shouldn't have, and wouldn't have if everyone was doing their job properly.
And he said there should be more testing in tennis, so he isn't saying that it's clean.
Also, the press doesn't always quote people accurately. Even the title of this article is a bit misleading, he's not critical of cycling for lack of skill, he said there's little skill & it's mainly physical. In comparison to tennis, it pretty much is. His issue with drugs in cycling was during the 1990s, it isn't reported that he thinks the teams today are all still using drugs. He also says that he welcomes more testing in tennis, so he isn't saying that tennis players don't use drugs.
He's mostly right, isn't he? Admittedly, in descending and sprinting there is skill, but I think that courage (descending) and power (sprinting) are more important.
So, yes cycling has/had a massive problem with doping. And it's more to do with stamina and courage than skill. But that doesn't stop it being brilliant.
Do fans of athletics get this shirty if someone says that the 100m takes little skill, and is just about running fast for a bit?
There a quite a lot of quotes from Murray on this. Kudos to the journalist who managed to stay awake long enough to write it all down.
Precious cyclists, take a while to read these comments. It's pathetic. You're all so quick to be offended, man up for goodness sakes. Most of what he says is true.
He's kind of right, though. The main reason I like cycling is that it requires fitness but no particular athletic talent. Co-ordination is not massively important in road cycling at least. Of course, good cyclists are talented insomuchas they were blessed with unusually efficient cardio-vascular engines, but I wouldn't classify this as a talent in the same way as hitting a tennis ball that's coming at you at 100mph+. So I actually think Murray has a point.
Maybe Andy has not read www.tennishasasteroidproblem.blogspot.com It is amazing what you cannot find when you do not look for it!
Come on, Tim!
This is a non-story, and road.cc need to show a bit of responsibility in how they report it.
Murray is generalising somewhat, but the basics of what he is saying are correct - cycling is at the highest level determined by who the fittest, strongest guys are on any given day - this is also true in tennis to an extent, but the skill of the player in hitting the ball is much more of a factor than the cyclist's bike handling skills. Tactics of course are key, but they are in both sports
Everyone needs to chill a bit. Comments about him smiling, his money, his Mum - pathetic!
This is being jumped upon by road.cc in the same way that 'there should be helmet laws' was jumped upon by the national press when Wiggins spoke after winning the Olympic TT.
Andy didn't set out to berate cycling. His intention was to say that there is not enough testing in Tennis.
Perhaps, he could be a little more consistent in how he expresses it:
Murray added: "I may miss a flight or a flight could be delayed, yet I have to let Wada know exactly where I will be, even when I am resting. They even turned up at my hotel in Miami while I was on holiday. Tennis has not got a big problem with drugs. I support drug testing and strongly condemn any use of drugs in sport, but there has to be a more realistic and practical way to deal with the problem with tennis players."
Taken from:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/feb/06/tennis-andy-murray-anti-doping
..he's a ginger..their comments do not matter as they are not of our race
From Tennis has a steroid problem; "The International Tennis Federation (ITF), and professional tennis as a whole, has zero credibility when it comes to making claims of a being a "clean sport" or having "strict doping controls." The more likely situation is widespread doping in the sport. Why? The reasons are plenty:"
After 15 reasons why the site says,
" For the reasons above (and more), the ITF anti-doping program is either completely inept, or deliberately designed to not catch players doping" "As a result, ALL tennis players have a cloud hanging over their heads"
After seeing the backlash against Cycling I cannot imagine that the International Tennis Federation are falling over themselves to clean up their act. Surely cycling should be proud of its achievement in catching cheats?
Hey, just RELAX!
Just because he's good at hitting a ball over a net doesn't stop him being an arsehole and demonstrating how ignorant he is.
Is this the same Andy Murray that not long ago complained about the pitiful testing levels as being "draconian"? The link provided above shows 6x as many tests in cycling as tennis and any fool knows that PEDs are rife at the top level of ANY sport where frequent testing isn't carried out.
Can you compare two blokes repeatedly hitting a ball across a yard (when you're fairly confident who is the better) with Cadel's Giro stage win on the strade bianche? With Boonen, Cancellara or Gilbert in spring or the varying interwoven fortunes of the protagonists on the Galibier stage in the 2011 Tour? Good god, no! My heart beats for cycling, and no amount of deeply ignorant and arrogant bollocks from some pampered twit will change that. On a bike you can escape, you are alive, you can dream you're flying.
Just another moronic boring tw&t. Get a life...
Wow, 51 comments so far, tennis is really popular, and not a helmet in sight.
“Cycling isn’t a game, it’s a sport. Tough, hard and unpitying, and it requires great sacrifices. One plays football, or tennis, or hockey. One doesn’t play at cycling.”
~Jean de Gribaldy
Good old Andy,first he says he does not like the english now he is having a pop at cycling,a sport i love to bits. i cheered him on in every final right up to the day he won one......well no more Mr Murry....COME ON RODGER,NADAL,etc......
an earlier comment was made about rugby and drug testing.
Last year there was 1714 tests carried out by the IRB of which only 9 showed peculiar readings and i believe they were all from lesser known teams. Its still a small amount of checks worldwide but its getting there.
I know all the premiership clubs (rugby that is) do sporadic player checks themselves so that figure could be a lot higher if it was compiled correctly.
As for antonio's comment - there is a helmet mentioned - its Murray
He will never win SPOTY anyway you need to have a personality to do that
think you might have just proved his point there mate. if you're really fit you can probably cycle fairly well - he'd beat most of us in a road race, him being a pro-athlete - but i'd bet my house that none of us could take a set off him in tennis.
stop being so reactionary, he's right about the skill level and he's probably mostly right about the drugs. unbelievably defensive cyclists in here...
+1 sponican and dodgy.
No doping in tennis Andy? I suppose the fact that average match length has skyrocketed in the last ten years has nothing to do with it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_tennis_match_records
Also, I am sending you money for a proper haircut and some extra unused leg razors I have here for the back of your neck. It really looks quite embarrassing.
Not much skill in tennis....just hit a ball..?
Oh and don't forget to bring mummy with you Andy.!!
And +1 for Scottish independence !!
'Golf same'??
The rule of thumb is that if you get sweaty and/or out of breath whilst letting your boss win it's technically still a sport.
Golf is not a sport - it's a leisure activity like darts and dominos except more expensive.
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