Goffin Reflects On Nishioka Victory In Tokyo
Goffin Reflects On Nishioka Victory In Tokyo
Oct042016
Tennis players will not be able to plead ignorance if they test positive for banned substances, says the International Tennis Federation.
Ex-world number one Maria Sharapova, 29, had a two-year ban reduced to 15 months after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) ruled she was not told about a change in the drug’s status.
She tested positive for meldonium less than a month after it was banned.
The ITF said “appropriate steps were taken to publicise any changes”.
But, in a statement, it added: “Nonetheless, we have reviewed, and will continue to review, our processes for communicating changes to the prohibited list to players with the aim of ensuring that no player can claim that they had not been fully informed.”
Sharapova is a five-time Grand Slam winner and was Forbes’ highest-paid female athlete for 11 consecutive years, until American Serena Williams moved above her this year.
The Russian, whose suspension is backdated to the date of her first positive test on 26 January 2016, can return to action on 26 April 2017.
“I have learned from this, and I hope the ITF has as well,” she said.
Sharapova tested positive for meldonium at the Australian Open in January 2016 and an out-of-competition test on 2 February.
She said she had been taking the drug since 2006 for health reasons and was unaware it had been added to World Anti-Doping Agency’s (Wada) banned list as she knew it only by the name mildronate.
However, the Cas appeal hearing said Sharapova was at fault for not giving her agent “adequate instructions” in checking Wada’s prohibited list and “failing to supervise and control” her agent.
Sharapova’s lawyer, John Haggerty, called the Cas decision “a stunning repudiation of the ITF” and that “it exposes the ITF decision for what it is – pure fiction”.
“As we demonstrated before Cas, not only did the tennis anti-doping authorities fail to properly warn Maria, if you compare what the ITF did with how other federations warned athletes of the rule change, it’s a night and day difference,” he added.
The chief executive – Johan Eliasch – of one of Sharapova’s sponsors, racquet manufacturer Head, said “justice had been served” and called the original ITF decision “wholly unfair”.
Eliasch said “there is no doubt Maria broke a rule” but he claims there are inconsistencies in the anti-doping regime and changes are needed.
“This calls into question the revelations about certain Olympic athletes who were granted therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) for substances that could most certainly be considered performance enhancing and have been proven to be performance enhancing under significant clinical testing,” added Eliasch.
“Meldonium, the substance that Maria had been taking, has yet to be proven under any significant clinical testing to have any performance enhancing benefits.”
Eliasch called for “a wholesale comprehensive review and change to the anti-doping system in identifying performance enhancing drugs”.
Former Wimbledon champion Virginia Wade said it was “inexcusable” for Sharapova to find herself in this situation.
However, speaking to BBC Radio 5 live, Wade added: “She’s 100% right. The ITF should be more clear.
“The players need to be much more attentive and you have got to realise that, even if you are trying everything to make yourself feel better, do better, be stronger, that it has to be within the rules.”
Pat Cash, the 1987 Wimbledon men’s champion, said the 15-month ban was “just a little bit on the lenient side”, although he believed Sharapova did not know the drug was banned.
He also accepted that Sharapova had a “fair point” when it came to the ITF.
Cash added: “There is no doubt her image has been tarnished. Her reputation will never quite be the same.”
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller
“Sharapova could return to the WTA Tour in Prague or Rabat in the first week of May and, if a wildcard is forthcoming, the French Open will be on her schedule just four weeks later.
“She will be 30 by the time she returns, but 2017 will no longer be a write-off, even though it is likely to take her several months to regain her sharpness.
“The crux of the matter is that the court decided it was reasonable for Sharapova to delegate her anti-doping duties to Max Eisenbud and the IMG agency, even if on this occasion those duties were not exercised with remotely enough care.
“In the past three years, both Marin Cilic and Viktor Troicki have also successfully argued less blame should be laid at their door.
“Cas has repeatedly set a player’s bar of responsibility lower than the ITF think it should be – and as a result there must be a concern some players may in future take anti-doping less seriously than they should.”
Rising German records fourth Top 10 win of 2016
#NextGen star Alexander Zverev continued his outstanding 2016 season with an opening round win on Tuesday at the China Open over fourth seed Dominic Thiem, pushing him closer to finishing the year inside the Top 20 of the Emirates ATP Rankings.
The 19 year old German rallied from a set down to defeat World No. 10 Thiem 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, extending his ATP World Tour win streak to six matches. He also improved his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against Thiem to 1-3. All three losses against the Austrian came this year on clay courts.
Zverev won the final four games of the match to secure his place in the second round. He applied pressure on Thiem’s serve throughout the contest by earning 14 break points. Zverev also had an impressive serving display in the final two sets, firing eight aces and winning 79 per cent of his first serve points.
Zverev now has four Top 10 wins in 2016. He shocked Roger Federer in June at the Gerry Weber Open, then scored back-to-back wins over Tomas Berdych and Stan Wawrinka last month to win his first ATP World Tour title at the St. Petersburg Open.
Having started the year at No. 83 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Zverev has soared to his current standing at No. 24. He is less than 100 points away from the Top 20 and has nothing to defend for the rest of the year, making him a strong contender to achieve that milestone.
Next up for Zverev at the China Open is fellow rising star Jack Sock.
Raonic, Thiem to play Tuesday
Top seed Andy Murray continued his dominance over Andreas Seppi on Tuesday at the China Open, notching his eighth consecutive over the Italian in a convincing opening round win, 6-2, 7-5.
“I feel like I’m able to get a lot of chances when he’s serving, give myself a lot of opportunities to break,” said Murray. “He’s got very good timing, hits the ball very clean off both sides. I try to use some variety and not let him get into a rhythm. That’s worked well for me.”
Having struggled with a shoulder injury during the Western & Southern Open final in August, Murray said he’s fully healthy now and eager to make a run for the title.
“I thought I did okay considering I hadn’t played much the past couple of weeks. I think I can do better,” said Murray. “But there was some good stuff in there. With each match, I’ll play better hopefully. No injuries. Felt fine. Just need matches now.”
The World No. 2 in the Emirates ATP Rankings broke Seppi twice in each set and put pressure on the Italian’s serve throughout the match, racking up 11 break points compared to just one for Seppi. The British star was also dominant on serve, firing eight aces and winning 88 per cent of his first serve points.
He now leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Seppi 8-1. Seppi won their first ATP World Tour meeting at the Aegon Open Nottingham in 2006, but Murray has won matches against him on every surface since then.
Next up for Murray is the winner of the all-Russian opening round between Andrey Kuznetsov and qualifier Konstantin Kravchuk. The top seed has never played Kravchuk, but leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry over Kuznetsov 1-0.
Maria Sharapova’s two-year doping ban has been reduced to 15 months following her appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The five-time Grand Slam winner, 29, was initially banned by the International Tennis Federation for two years after testing positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open.
The Russian will be able to return to the tennis court on 26 April, 2017.
“I am counting the days until I can return,” she said.
“In so many ways, I feel like something I love was taken away from me and it will feel really good to have it back. Tennis is my passion and I have missed it.”
Meldonium, a heart disease drug also known as mildronate, became a banned substance on 1 January 2016.
Sharapova said she had been taking the drug since 2006 for health problems and had “not tried to use a performance-enhancing substance”.
She said she was unaware the drug had been added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (Wada) banned list.
The former world number one said she could not “accept” the “unfairly harsh” ban when it was announced in June.
The Cas panel said it found Sharapova’s case “was not about an athlete who cheated”, but added she “bore significant fault for her violation”.
It added that Sharapova was at fault for not giving her agent “adequate instructions” in checking Wada’s prohibited list and “failing to supervise and control” her agent.
The tribunal ruling said Sharapova tested positive for meldonium in an out-of-competition test on 2 February, as well as in the aftermath of her Australian Open quarter-final defeat by Serena Williams on 26 January.
It treated both results as a single anti-doping violation.
Sharapova won the Wimbledon singles title as a 17-year-old in 2004, going on to win the Australian, French and US Opens to complete a career Grand Slam.
However, she has not played professional tennis since losing to 22-time Grand Slam champion Williams.
Her suspension is backdated to 26 January 2016, meaning Sharapova can return to competitive action before next year’s French Open in May.
“I’ve gone from one of the toughest days of my career last March when I learned about my suspension to now, one of my happiest days, as I found out I can return to tennis in April,” she said.
“I have learned from this, and I hope the ITF has as well. Cas concluded that ‘the panel has determined it does not agree with many of the conclusions of the ITF tribunal’.
“I have taken responsibility from the very beginning for not knowing that the over-the-counter supplement I had been taking for the last 10 years was no longer allowed.
“But I also learned how much better other federations were at notifying their athletes of the rule change, especially in Eastern Europe where mildronate is commonly taken by millions of people.
“Now that this process is over, I hope the ITF and other relevant tennis anti-doping authorities will study what these other federations did, so that no other tennis player will have to go through what I went through.”
Racquet manufacturer Head, which extended its contract with Sharapova despite her positive test, congratulated her ban was reduced.
Nike suspended its relationship with Sharapova in March, before saying it would stand by her following the tribunal’s findings in June.
Car manufacturer Porsche said it would wait to see the outcome of her appeal, while Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer cut ties with her in March.
Sharapova was Forbes’ highest-paid female athlete for 11 consecutive years, until American tennis player Serena Williams moved above her this year.
The latest Forbes figures have Sharapova’s winnings and endorsements at £17.1m, compared with £22.6m for Williams.
Tennis star Andy Murray describes the moment he woke up in a hotel to find a maid stroking his arm.
Andy Murray began his quest for a first China Open title with a comfortable first-round victory against Italy’s Andreas Seppi in Beijing.
The British top seed, 29, won 6-2 7-5 against the world number 94.
The three-time Grand Slam winner broke Seppi’s serve twice in the opening set, then fought back from 2-0 down in the second to win in straight sets.
Meanwhile, fellow Briton Johanna Konta’s match on the outside courts has been delayed by heavy rain.
The British number one, 25, is due to face Hungary’s Timea Babos in their second-round match on Tuesday.
Play was delayed until 18:30 local time (11:30 BST).
Murray has targeted overtaking Novak Djokovic as the world’s top-ranked player and, with the Serb missing the China Open through injury, the Scot has an opportunity to narrow the gap this week.
While Murray has triumphed at Wimbledon and the Olympics this year, Djokovic’s form has dipped since beating his rival to the French Open title.
Djokovic was beaten in the early rounds at Wimbledon and Rio 2016, and although he reached the US Open final earlier this month, he was beaten by Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka.
Murray is almost 4,700 points behind Djokovic in the world rankings but knows winning in Beijing – and taking the 500 ranking points available – will move him 1,000 points closer to the 12-time Grand Slam champion.
And he made a decent start by sweeping aside Seppi in his first match since suffering a thigh injury in the Davis Cup defeat by Argentina two weeks ago.
Murray was handed victory when Seppi’s serve crumbled in the final game, two double faults – including one on the match-winning point – seeing Murray win in one hour and 26 minutes.
The Scot will now face a Russian player in the second round, meeting the winner of the game between Konstantin Kravchuk and Andrey Kuznetsov.
He could potentially play Kyle Edmund in the quarter-finals after the fellow Brit beat Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Monday.
#NextGen star serves his way past Harrison
No. 6 seed Nick Kyrgios put his best foot forward in a 7-5, 6-2 win over American Ryan Harrison at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016 on Tuesday. Harrison was coming into the match with confidence, having qualified for an ATP World Tour main draw for the eighth time this year. However, he had few answers for Kyrgios’s pace and succumbed in 80 minutes.
The Aussie enjoyed a stellar day on serve, firing 14 aces, landing 73 per cent of first serves and not facing a break point. Kyrgios’s comfort level on his delivery was such that he often followed up a first-serve miss with another flat bomb. The #NextGen star routinely topped 200km/h on his second serve and closed out the match with a 194km/h strike.
“My serve is obviously a big weapon. It gets me out of trouble when I’m not feeling so great and it’s always a part of my game that I can rely on to win matches,” Kyrgios said. “I just think that I can’t miss the same serve twice, so why not go after it on the second serve [too]?”
Czech veteran Radek Stepanek, a nine-time qualifier at ATP World Tour events this year, enjoyed a better fate than Harrison, beating Frenchman Stephane Robert 6-2, 6-1. If the 37 year old were to qualify for another main draw this year, he would move ahead of six other players for sole possession of the open-era record. Stepanek, Kyrgios’s second-round opponent, had also qualified for nine events back in 2002.
No. 5 seed David Goffin saw off Japanese #NextGen player Yoshihito Nishioka 7-5, 6-2 to set up a clash against Jiri Vesely, who beat Kevin Anderson 3-6, 6-0, 6-4. Goffin’s metronomic baseline tempo was too much for the left-handed wild card. The Belgian broke serve five times and sealed the win in one hour and 39 minutes.
Juan Monaco was a 7-6(2), 7-6(5) victor over American teenager Taylor Fritz. The Argentine broke with the #NextGen player serving for the first set at 5-4 and maintained his momentum to win in one hour and 47 minutes. Monaco held the big-serving Fritz to five aces while hitting seven untouchable serves of his own.
Brazilian looks for second Challenger title of 2016 in Campinas
Thiago Monteiro has arguably established himself as the most improved player of the year, but he isn’t done creating new memories in 2016.
The 22 year old from Brazil is looking for his ATP Challenger Tour on home soil at the $40,000 ATP Challenger Tour in Campinas. Monteiro is the second seed and will play his opening match against fellow Brazilian Andre Ghem on Wednesday.
“I like to perform at home,” said Santos. “The energy of the people and their support is very good for me and I really do feel it in the tough matches.”
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After starting the year ranked No. 463 n the Emirates ATP Rankings, Monteiro is now inside the Top 100 at No. 90. In addition to winning the $100,000 ATP Challenger Tour event this May in Aix-en-Provence, France, Monteiro also reached ATP World Tour quarter-finals in February at the Brasil Open and in July at the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open.
Monteiro is also responsible for one of the biggest upsets of the season. As a wild card ranked No. 338, he shocked then-World No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga this February at the Rio Open presented by Claro.
“It’s been a fantastic year for me,” said Monteiro. “Reaching the Top 100 has been my dream ever since I was a kid. I had to work very hard with my team, but I’ve had some really good matches this year.”
Based on his run of form, it doesn’t appear those good matches will dry up anytime soon. But while he was initially surprised by his inspired tennis in 2016, it’s now something he has come to expect.
“I’d say this year has both matched and exceeded my expectations,” said Monteiro. “I didn’t expect to have the win over Tsonga or reach my first ATP World Tour quarter-final. But after that, I started to believe in my game more and work harder. That gave me a lot of motivation and now I’m starting to consistently have these good results.”