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Hello readers, this article is different from the usual Jets content who are now 3-6 on the season can only afford two more losses if they want to make the playoffs. I am also a Tennis fan and believe change needs to be made in regard to how they discipline.
As any sports league must do, it must
discipline its players when they break the rules. The Association of Tennis
Players has a history of suspending players who use performance-enhancing
drugs to keep the integrity of the game intact.
When it comes to some of the best males in
the sport, these rules don’t matter to those atop the rankings. Recently, world
number one Jannik Sinner failed two drug
tests
and was not suspended at all. The report that was released came five months
after he failed two drug tests. During that time, he recently won the
Australian Open and was amid Masters 1000 events in Miami and at Indian Wells
in California. Sinner most recently won the US Open and has held his number-one
ranking for four months straight.
There should be no hesitation in
suspending Sinner. He was caught with clostebol in his system and
according to the World Anti-Doping Code, “A provisional suspension is
automatically applied.” It does not matter how much was found in his system, no
one should be above the law. He failed not one but two tests and gained an
unfair advantage during big tournaments that cost other players ranking points
and prize money.
Eight-time major champion Andre Agassi failed a drug test
in 1997
and it was kept a secret until 2009 when he admitted to having crystal meth in
his system in his autobiography. It can be said that Agassi and Sinner tested
positive for different drugs, but they both share the appeal to the crowds on
tour and the Association of Tennis Players (ATP) believes they cannot afford to
lose their names and likeness on tour and will stand with decisions in favor of
their top players.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency
(ITIA), the agency that now hands out bans for both men’s and women’s tennis,
wastes no time suspending women players with similar success. Two-time major
champion Simona Halep and five-time
major champion Maria Sharapova both were
suspended after failing one drug test.
The ITIA even said regarding the Halep
case, “The ITIA has followed the proper processes as we would with any other
individual.” Then gave Sinner a free pass not even a year later.
Everything can still be taken
circumstantially according to some, but the process of suspending a player is
expedited when they want to. They slowed the process for Sinner and heard the
case with a fair amount of leniency to save one of the golden boys of men’s
tennis. Sharapova and Halep were both provisionally suspended in the time it
took for there to be a release about Sinner’s case.
Whichever way ITIA and WADA want to decide
on how to discipline players should be set immediately regardless of ranking or
gender. Tennis is a game of class and integrity and is not being treated as so
by those who set the laws and rules of the sport. This affects players' ranking
and prize money by letting a player like Sinner compete and knock out players
who are at a disadvantage.
Game, set and match tennis, it’s time to
clean up your act on how you discipline players. Until then you should stop
watching this non-transparent product.
Comment below; How should Tennis executives address the inconsistencies swirling around performance enhancement drugs?
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