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After journeyman Wayne Odesnik receives a 15-year suspension for doping, his ATP colleagues are unsympathetic

Stephanie Myles
The disgraced American player in likely the final Grand Slam match of his career, in January at the Australian Open qualifying. (Stephanie Myles/opencourt.ca)

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – Wayne Odesnik was never the most popular guy in the ATP Tour locker room to begin with. So when he was suspended back in 2010 after Australian customs officers found vials of human growth hormone in his luggage, it wasn't a big leap to go from unpopular to pariah.

Even more so after his original sentence was reduced, reportedly because he provided information to authorities that was intended to help them in their quest to rid tennis of doping.

On Wednesday, when the International Tennis Federation announced Odesnik had been assessed a 15-year ban for another doping offence, testing positive for metabolites of three different substances after a test administered by the U.S. anti-doping association, followed up by two tests by the ITF.

Here's the technical explanation:

"Metabolites of methenolone; metabolites of androst-(2,3)-en-17-one; and GHRP-6. All are Prohibited Substances under the 2014 and 2015 WADA List of Prohibited Substances: methenolone under section S1 (Anabolic agents); androst-(2,3)-en-17-one under section S4 (Hormone and metabolic  modulators); and GHRP-6 under Section 2  (Peptide hormones, growth factors, related substances and mimetics)."

Top player Andy Murray appeared to sum it up for most, if not all, of his colleagues when he Tweeted this:

Murray volunteered; the retired Andy Roddick offered this in response to question:

Another retired American player, Amer Delic, had this to say:

Murray didn't pull any punches when he was asked about it in his press conferences, after defeating Adrian Mannarino of France to reach the quarter-finals.

"I think probably deserved, as well. I think it's a good thing. Obviously, you know, in those situations that are not the first time – I think from what I read, and I haven't read everything about what's happened just now, but I believe two separate samples, which is two failed tests, really. So they should be treated as individual cases. You know, they were I think quite a few weeks apart, as well. So he clearly was taking something and trying to get an advantage.

"And, yeah, after what happened the last time, you know, whatever story you believe, the one that was given, I don't believe at all. Yeah, I think it's good for tennis to get him off the tour and away from the tour, because we don't want that being part of the tour."

Canadian Milos Raonic had a thoughtful response, and his insight about the actual testing process and some of the little details involved was quite interesting.

Here it is:

Other players expressed their views, although Rafael Nadal hadn't heard about it when he got off court and most of them kept it quite generic.

"I didn't have enough information to have an opinion of that. I really don't know about him, so it's difficult to say one or another thing. But obviously when that happens twice, you don't deserve to be on the tour," he said.

Roger Federer: "What do you want me to tell you? I think it's good you catch guys who don't do things they shouldn't be doing. Players and athletes should know if they cheat, they get caught, I guess. That's the moral of the story here. I didn't know him at all, personally, to be quite honest. But I'm all for a clean sport, and that's why you've got to catch those guys who don't do the things they are supposed to be doing."

Jack Sock: "I mean, unfortunate for him, but, you know, second violation. I mean, we have rules in this sport, and if you're not going to obey them or abide by them, you've got to pay the consequence. It's sad, of course. Yeah, he's an American. But, you know, it kind of is what it is. And if you're going to do it not only once but twice, then you have to pay the price."

Odesnik issued a retirement statement which proclaimed (as is often the case), that the ingestion of the banned substances was inadvertent.

Here it is:

Suspended 15 years for doping, the American player announces his retirement.
Suspended 15 years for doping, the American player announces his retirement.