On Sunday, Rafael Nadal gave us one of the greatest performances in tennis history in defeating Roger Federer in a five-set marathon at Wimbledon.
In the three days since then, that match has been hailed as the greatest in the history of the sport, and Nadal has been crowned the new king of tennis. But since this is sports in the year 2008, that great performance is now followed by questions of whether Nadal is using performance-enhancing drugs.
Here's what Kurt Streeter wrote in today's Los Angeles Times:
When the match was over, I spoke to my friend Tom, a tennis fanatic if ever one lived.My initial reaction was that the Los Angeles Times, which has been wrong before in stories about athletes and performance-enhancing drugs, would be a little more careful with such accusations. That was also the reaction at The Big Lead, which called it "baffling" that Streeter would include Nadal in a column about performance-enhancing drugs.
I wanted to talk about the pressure, the tension, the glory of one of the greatest sporting events in history.
But the first thing that came out of Tom's mouth was a mention of doping. The winner, he claimed, didn't lift that golden crown naturally.
Come now. I reminded Tom that Nadal is, by all accounts, a wonderful, humble person, a credit to athletes because of his sportsmanship, skill and drive. Doping? Not a chance. Then I remembered the television broadcast and John McEnroe noting that after all that high-velocity drama, all those side-to-side scrambles and bludgeoned forehands, both players looked in the fifth set almost exactly as they did on the first point. I love tennis, love what unfolded Sunday, but doubt crept up about both of the finalists, I admit. How depressing.
I'd like to think that speculation about which athletes are and are not juicing would at least be confined to athletes for whom there is some actual evidence -- not for athletes like Nadal, who did nothing more than win an exciting tennis match. But that's not the way it works anymore.
The sports media badly missed the steroids story in 1998, with reporters acting as cheerleaders while Mark McGwire hit 70 home runs, without stopping to ask any hard questions about what was fueling his record-breaking performance. Now all it takes is one reporter with one friend who thinks one athlete is juicing, and that alone merits associating Nadal with performance-enhancing drugs.
How depressing.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
7-09-2008 @ 4:54PM
Maureen said...
Your friend Tom is entitled to his opinion. I have been a long time tennis enthusiast as well. I even met Nadal at the Sony Ericsson in Miami in March. I do NOT believe that he is guilty of using performance enhancing drugs. It is unfortunate that people are suspicious of professional athletes who demonstrate extraordinary ability. Nadal's desire to win and work ethic are so intense and are attributes that should be admired. He is the real deal. I am so happy that he won the French and Wimbledon. I hope his rivalry with Federer continues for many years.
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7-17-2008 @ 10:08PM
phil said...
when federer won last year there was no mention of steriode..If he would have won this year (he almost did) would steriods have been mentioned NO
7-09-2008 @ 4:54PM
Russell Gross said...
NOONE, but noone should try to marr the fantastic, history-making final to the 2008 Championships at Wimbledon this past Sunday with comments such as those presented by the Los Angeles Times reporter. Why not celebrate this triumph between 2 of tennis' greatest sportsmen as "one of the greatest matches EVER played" instead of making "sleazy" suppositions about why they played so well?!?!?! Maybe THAT would be a way to encourage young people instead of suggesting anything besides amazing talent and HARD WORK?!?!? Maybe more media writers should write POSITIVELY and turn the negative eye to those who have justly earned it, NOT gentlemen such as Nadal and Federer!
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7-09-2008 @ 5:06PM
Rich said...
I assure you. Not a chance Nadal's on any type of performance-enhancing drugs. Lord. This guy practices for hours upon hours each and every day.
And Roger? No. Look at his skinny little arms! There is still a thing out there called hard work. And, Athletes can still be strong without breaking the rules. Look at Nadal closely. That is completely, totally natural. Shouldn't throw a "red flag" up. I assure you. Please get off this guy. Don't do this. Yikes.
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7-09-2008 @ 7:33PM
frank said...
Sore losers;
For 5 hours Nadal prove to the world that
he is the one;
A young man with a lot of talent and discipline not to forget how humble he is
a sign of a true champion, clean;
In England they test players b4 and after a major event even if is cricket that they
participated in;
In the USA with baseball, football and lately Basketball and many other sports proven that in fact players have been using steroids
is a common perception from the USA that all over the world are practicing such as well;
Wrong country, wrong sports and certainly wrong Champion the best that tennis will have for a long, long time;
P.S. To Tom's mouth go and play golf please in the USA only gezzzzzzzz, get a life!
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7-09-2008 @ 7:43PM
frank said...
The bottom line, sore losers;
Nadal is the best tennis player in the world;
In England they test players b4 and after a big tournament even if is cricket;
In the USA were baseball,basketball,football and many other sports that steroids is running the show people in the USA think that applies in every part of the globe;
Wrong country,wrong sports and certainly wrong champion this kid Nadal maybe the best tennis player ever;
P.S. To Tom's mouth go and learn golf and play with tiger woods with some juice who knows maybe you 'll beat tiger? only in the USA, what an imagination get a life and do not forget to challenge tiger!
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7-09-2008 @ 7:48PM
frank said...
Freedom of expression has been twisted by a big mouth like's Tom .
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7-09-2008 @ 7:55PM
frank said...
I bet that MDS had something to do with
this comment from Tom's mouth and who is
tom anyways ?
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7-10-2008 @ 10:18AM
iain said...
tom's a moron, and the 'journalist' is even worse, as everyone else has said hard work is a component of Nadal's physique and athleticism but a little things called genetics has helped too, his uncle was capped over 50 times for Spain and was nicknamed 'the beast' because of his size and physical play, Rafa just has a naturally big, strong athletic frame to which he has added to with an insane work ethic.
Unbelievable to me that this guy is allowed to write for a newspaper...
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7-10-2008 @ 12:00PM
Janet said...
Irresponsible journalism! Stick it in your ear, Streeter AND Smith!
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7-10-2008 @ 12:24PM
Dave said...
I wonder if this accusation would have been made if Nadal was American? I suspect there are a lot of American tennis fans bitter that there aren't any good American male players these days. It's sort of like the French going after Lance Armstrong only this time it's the Americans going after a Spaniard.
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7-10-2008 @ 12:26PM
Melanie said...
The thing with anabolic steroids is they give the body the ability to work harder in training..... that is what slows up many natural athletes, the work ethic is there, but the body can't take it to the next level, working harder actually starts to have bad effects and performance suffers..... steroids allow the body to tolerate the harder work without overtraining, so that those with the drive to work harder can see the benefits.
Steroids make it so that hard work pays off more, without the steroids, working out every day as hard as you can quickly leads to a loss of performance ability.
There are many medical journal reports on the suppression of testosterone in the body from overtraining: http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/reprint/85/6/2352.pdf
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7-10-2008 @ 7:03PM
Agnes said...
Ok, everything is possible, it's possible earth may be hit by a meteor tomorrow.....we're talking about probables and if it's not probable that Nadal is using drugs (which it isn't) it is very very irresponsible for the journalist to say what he did. Nadal is a great player and has been improving, he's not even that muscular and it has taken him quite a long time to get to this stage where he could even win wimbledon, it was no samll feat. Furthermore, Federer has been winning all these tournaments and I've never even heard of a possible link to steroids, I would think you would be more logical and question the one with the 5 times wimbledon win...I doubt that many tennis players even think about doping, let alone do it....Nadal is a great tennis player. VAMOS RAFA!
7-10-2008 @ 2:42PM
Patricia said...
I read this man's column originally and replied to it. If I am not mistaken, this is the same guy who is a huge Roger Federer fan, and simply cannot comprehend the fact that even Federer can be beaten, legitimately by the way!!! After looking at very early shots of Nadal when he was mid-teens, you could see the beginnings of the kind of physique he would have ~ without help, and with just straight training. It is sad that his win has to be marred by someone who can't accept the fact that his hero is human too.
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7-10-2008 @ 2:54PM
Sick said...
This isn't the first time Nadal has faced doping speculation. Back in 2006, his name was allegedly on the list of patients serviced by Dr Fuentes, A Spanish doctor accused of EPO (blood doping) practices with over 200 athletes. many of the athtletes listed were cyclists, but Fuentes admiited that many of his other clients were soccer stars and tennis players. Several members of Real Madrid and the name of Nadal were in his agenda book according to several European newspapers.
Nadal was actually asked about this at the 2006 Wimbledon and denied it saying he would sue. He never sued and it was never proven for sure that his name was on the list, but those who saw the list claim his name was on it. Operacion Puerto it was called.
Dick Pound has been calling for the release of the full list of names involved for over a year but the Spanish courts will not cooperate. the only names released were those of the cyclists, yet they make up less than half the list.
I would hope that Nadal is not using, I would be heartbroken if that were the case, but this is not the first time he's faced steroids/EPO speculation.
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7-10-2008 @ 2:55PM
KJR said...
I have a few questions.
Is it legal in tennis, the Olympics, cycling, etc. to take Human Growth Hormone? Are there tests to detect the use of Human Growth Hormone? Does Human Growth Hormone aid in endurance, strength, quickness, training ability, etc.?
I don't know whether Nadal uses any performance enhancing substances or not. But I have thought for the past six years or so, since he first appeared, that he appeared extremely over-developed for a 17 or 18 year old. I am not prejudiced against Spain. It's actually my favorite country outside the US, and I think Spanish people are great.
To be fair, I will say the same thing about LeBron James. I thought he appeared like a fully-developed 27 year old man when he first appeared on the scene as an 18 year old.
I will say the same thing about Dara Torres. I think she's a great swimmer, and a great person, but I have my doubts whether a 41-year old swimmer can set world records. She alluded to testing for steroids. It's clear that no positive results were discovered. (This is the same reply that Lance Armstrong always gave. That he had always been tested and never shown a positive result.) But she did not look the audience straight in the eye and say "I do not and have never used any performance enhancing substance at any time. Not steroids, not HGH, not blood doping, nothing. Everything I have achieved has been achieved purely through training and my natural God-given talents."
I have a feeling that HGH cannot be detected by current tests, and is used by many elite level athletes.
It would be very interesting to compare the average height of Olympic athletes in China (standardized by discipline) in 1972, '76, '80, etc. etc. and today in 2008. I think a researcher would find an extraordinary increase in average height and weight that would not be explained by diet, nutrition, childcare, etc.
I would be very interested in any data on this. If I'm wrong, I will be happy to say that I'm wrong.
I suspect many, many elite athletes all around the world use performance enhancing substances. They use whatever cannot be detected by current tests; and then their explanation is always that they've been tested and never been found in violation. They almost never issue a straight-forward, explicit, blanket denial.
Just one person's observation.
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7-10-2008 @ 3:14PM
David said...
A new low in cheap shots from the press.
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7-10-2008 @ 3:57PM
Sick said...
We've had so many athletes look us in the eye and tell us they're not doping then years later we find out they were doping. We live in a very cynical culture nowadays and people who compete like Torres or Nadal or any baseball home-run hitter will always be suspect.
Remember, Marion Jones never failed a drug test yet later admitted that she HAD been doping. I find it hard to believe that everyone else BUT Lance Armstrong was doping in cycling even though he's never failed a drug test either. Roger Clemens never failed a test either that we are aware of, the smart athletes know how to get around the doping. As said earlier, tests for EPO and HGH are not very well-developed so it is hard to catch people doing EPO or HGH.
Like I said before, Nadal has long been the focus of rumors - not with steroids but with EPO and blood doping which would help with his stamina. His stamina is legendary in tennis.
Yes some may see it as a cheap shot, but in this day and age it is also necessary to know whether the athletes are clean or not.
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7-10-2008 @ 4:21PM
Phil said...
I just wish for once that people would stop doing this. Someone wins a big game or match, the word drugs have to come into it. Leave it alone PEOPLE, PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
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7-10-2008 @ 5:10PM
chub said...
ridiculous statement to say the least,guess noone was reading his articles before this.
if u want facts,heres one,Andy Roddick was given hgh as a kid to help him develope into a bigger stronger player after his older brother couldnt make it on the tour because he was too small and really sucked.
Roddicks dad is a doctor,u figureout the rest,mmkay
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