Tennis: Rusedski drugs issue is 'a blip'

Shrugging off the Greg Rusedski drug-taking issue as little more than a blip, ATP officials are determined to do all they can to maintain tennis' image as a "very clean sport".

In Auckland for the latter stages of this week's Heineken Open, ATP executive vice-president Brad Drewett said: "We are an incredibly clean sport. We have a very expansive [testing] programme in place. It is important we keep spending money to ensure that remains the case."

Drewett would not comment on specific cases but confirmed there had been 43 samples which had shown traces of the banned steroid nandrolone. Of these, seven had been over the ATP's threshold.

"Obviously, there were some concerns," said Drewett. "Especially when it was found that the positives were the result of something being found in supplements being given out by ATP-approved trainers.

"We were concerned by the increased levels and instructed the trainers to stop giving out these supplements in May last year."

Rusedski tested positive at a tournament in Indianapolis in July which took him outside the time the trainers were handing out supplements.

While the ATP and ITF are not yet part of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Drewett said the sport was working towards that.

"We need to ensure we and Wada are on the same page. The ATP and ITF at present have a combined drug-testing programme undertaken by a Swedish agency."

Drewett, who played in Auckland in the mid-late 1980s, said the early-season tournament here had a special place on the international calendar.

"It is a low-key city with a great atmosphere," said Australian-based Drewett.

"The Heineken Open is well-located on the calendar but that is only part of the equation.

"It is a credit to tournament director Graham Pearce and his people that they continue to attract such world-class fields.

"He and the tournament have a reputation for putting on a very professional tournament. It is a player-friendly event played in front of large, knowledgeable crowds."

Of suggestions the tournament might have to move to accommodate a proposed change of date for the Australian Open, Drewett said there was still a number of issues to be considered before confirming any change.

"There will be ripple implications in whatever is done. Even putting the Australian Open back a week would impact on school holidays and with that the volunteer base. It would also take it a week closer to the Australian Grand Prix.

"The primary reason of looking at a change is to give the players an extra week's break by creating a longer off-season. But nothing is easy. To gain a week, someone would have to sell their tournament back to the ATP. No one wants to do that."

Meetings during the first week of the Australian Open, which starts in Melbourne on Monday, should go a long way to settling the issue.

One date on the tournament calendar has already generated plenty of interest.

The Athens Olympics are set to attract some of the biggest names.

"The reintroduction of tennis to the Seoul Olympics in 1988 was treated by many players as a curiosity thing," said Drewett. "Now the tournament is creating its own history and more and more players are keen to be part of that.

"It is the dream of every young tennis player to win a Grand Slam but over the next two or three generations that might change.

"The International Olympic Committee has agreed to increase the number of players in the tennis tournament in Athens. We have come up with an agreed formula.

"The ATP is happy to see tennis as part of the Olympics," said Drewett, who confirmed ATP ranking points would be at stake at the Games.

"They are, after all, the greatest sporting event known to mankind."