The ATP Tour will begin blood testing for the banned endurance-enhancing substance EPO in August or September, pending approval by the tennis players' council.
ATP spokesman David Higdon said yesterday that the tour was now confident that testing for EPO, which raises the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood, was at suchan advanced level that the tour could begin testing players.
As with guidelines set down by the International Olympic Committee, the blood test is done with a urine test backup. If the blood test is positive for EPO, the urine sample is used as verification.
