Serena's Not Happy With Naggy Girlfriend (WADA) Too

Boy, I don't know what happened, but a week or two ago I posted an article from ESPN about Fed and the Williamses saying that they're not against the the crazy rule WADA has enforced to athletes. I looked at it again, and I didn't misread, although there were no quotes from any of the Williamses.

Well turns out, Serena's the one confused.

Serena backs Nadal over drug-testing criticism

"We won't have problems in tennis that we have in other sports, so it's definitely a pure sport and that's the only upside to it."

 

"It's too much," she said. "If I want to go on vacation to Barbados for one day, I shouldn't have to say I'm going to Barbados.

"I'm always complaining to my agents. I never tell people where I am, because I like to do my own thing."

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rule operates on a 'three strikes and out' basis over a period of 18 months, and Williams revealed that she had already fallen foul of the legislation.

"One time, I was out at dinner and someone turned up at my house to test me. I think I might even have got a strike.

"It's bizarre. I can't run home from dinner and get tested. It's very invasive."

Despite her reservations, though, Williams accepts that WADA's stance helps safeguard the sport's reputation.

"I think tennis is the purest sport out there," she said.

So she accepts it, but she's complaining? Huh? So is she backing Rafa or is she not? Am I the only one confused? Help.

I totally lub the bikini though.

Fed & Williamses Not Joining The Fight Against Naggy Girlfriend (WADA)

From ESPN.com:

Depending on which tennis player you ask, the new drug-testing regime for top international athletes is either too intrusive or a necessary evil.

The main issue of the system, which became effective in tennis on Jan. 1 after being adopted by the International Tennis Federation at the Beijing Olympics, is a provision requiring players to say where they are going to be for an hour each day, every day.

<snip>

A number of cyclists, soccer players and volleyballers are pursuing legal action in Belgium, calling the code an invasion of their privacy. Top-ranked tennis player Rafael Nadal has said he plans to join in. Spanish journalists quoted him as calling the system a "disgrace" and "intolerable," saying many players believe they are being treated like criminals.

But second-ranked Roger Federer and Serena and Venus Williams say that while they may not like it, it's critical to tennis' integrity to prove that its athletes are clean.

"It's a tough system, no doubt," Federer said Saturday, a day before he will play Nadal in the Australian Open final. A win would pull him even with Pete Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam titles. "It's a significant change to what we were used to before, so I think it takes some getting used to it."

<snip>

He said doping seemed to have become so sophisticated that anything less stringent would leave cracks for offenders to slip through.

"I feel like this is how you're going to catch them, right?" Federer said. "You're not going to catch them ringing them up and saying, 'Look, I would like to test you maybe in two days.' The guy's cheating and they're smart, right?

"It's an hour a day. I know it's a pain, but I would like it to be a clean sport, and that's why I'm OK with it."

I cannot believe anyone will agree to such an invasion of privacy.

WADA Is A Naggy Girlfriend

Rafa is severely unhappy, to say the least, with the new anti-doping policy from the World Anti-Doping Agency that went into force on January the 1st.

The Spaniard is outraged about a rule that forces high-performance sportsmen to say where they are going to be for an hour each day, 365 days a year.

Damn right he should be. Anyone would.

If a sportsperson cannot be found where they said they would be three times in an 18-month period, he or she is considered to have violated anti-doping regulations and is liable for sanctions.

<snip>

He has already had a visit from anti-doping agents at his home on the Spanish island of Mallorca, at 8am on a Saturday. He had just had a night out with his friends.

I remember the first time I heard/read of this. I rolled my eyes so hard I could see the back of my skull. And they seem to think it's an easy thing to do, notifying a stranger --an organization of strangers!-- where you are going to be at a certain hour each day for one year. 

 

WADA claims that recent changes in rules - which used to demand that sportsmen be available for tests in this way only out of season - were intended to make things easier for sportsmen. Now they are only required to report their location one hour per day, and not for the whole day.

Every time you want to go somewhere, FOR A WHOLE YEAR, you have to whip out your phone and inform them. If you, say, oh, forgot to do it like most humans would, tough luck. 

Stuart Miller, the head of the anti-doping programme of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), said this should not be a problem.

'Except for the notion that if you provide information about your whereabouts on a quarterly basis, it's possible your plans might change,' was quoted as saying in the daily USA Today.

In that case, he stressed, players can notify the relevant authorities by e-mail, text message or even fax.

Oh, it's even better. Everyday you wanna go out, anywhere, you can easily whip out your phone/pda/fax machine and contact WADA.

Seriously, WHO are making these rules? I just can't get my head around it. It's like having a girlfriend, boyfriend, mother and father rolled into one.

For a private person like Rafa it must be a chafing chore. Sure, he is a player well known for his stamina. But Federer kept up with him in that epic Wimby final. We don't hear WADA paying Roger a visit at 8am on a Saturday morning. Rafa's under suspicion because he has muscles and his style of play is grueling. What. A load. Of crock. He can't help having a divine body, okay?

What if his football player friends (I refuse to call it soccer okay? it's football) invites him for a night out with strippers? What if he wants to meet up with Rafanatics behind Xisca's back?? I am a homebody, and even I balk at the thought of such restrictions.

What say you, Rafanatics?