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Andy Murray uncompromising in his reaction to Maria Sharapova positive doping test
INDIAN WELLS – Count world No. 2 Andy Murray among those who has a few issues with the Maria Sharapova positive doping test and all of the related fallout.
Murray, who has arrived in the Cailfornia desert from his efforts in Davis Cup for Great Britain last weekend, sounded skeptical as he expressed surprise that "so many high-level athletes across many different sports have heart conditions" – a dig at the reason Sharapova stated at her Monday press conference for taking the banned drug, meldonium.
He also said that he considered it part of her job (and his) to check and double-check everything they put in their bodies, and not just take a doctor's or a physio's word for it. He also found it "strange" that the player herself was able to announce it and get ahead of the news, although the ITF's policy on announcing positive tests remains to let the process play out on appeal before making an announcement.
Murray even was critical of his racquet sponsor, Head, which not only didn't suspend its business relationship with Sharapova as many of her top-flight sponsors did, but actually extended her contract.
Here's some of what Murray said.
Murray's strong comments, added to Rafael Nadal's from-the-heart responses during the general player media availablity Wednesday, put the ATP a step ahead of the WTA Tour in terms of the strength of their players' responses – even though it wasn't an ATP Tour member who tested positive.
Here's what Nadal had to say about Sharapova. He also had some things to say about the doping rumours that have dogged him his entire career.
On the WTA side, the best player in the women's game had scheduled a practice court Wednesday during the period when the WTA Tour held its All-Access hour.
As the leader of the pack, and the only true marquee player the women's Tour has now that Sharapova is out of action for the foreseeable future, it would have been beneficial for her to speak out immediately.
When Williams shared her thoughts Thursday morning, it seemed a little after the fact.
“The majority of the players play with integrity, and they do things and are out here because they want to be the best they can, the right way. Just like the world; we live in a massive world with billions of people. There are a few people who do things, but that doesn’t make the whole world a bad situation, a bad place," she said. "It’s the same thing with tennis. Beyond these two situations (the match-fixing scandal that broke just before the Australian Open, and now Sharapova), we’re still out there working very hard."
"I think it’s disappointing for all the players in general, for those who work very hard. But I don’t think it reflects on them. We’ve been working since we were four, five years old. I think it’s really really important to look at the bigger picture and all the amazing players, both men and women, that speak to this wonderful, global sport of tennis," Williams added.
The 34-year-old said she preferred not to take any medications. “I’m terrified, to be honest, it would just be a real bad situation if that was me (testing positive)," she said.
Williams' sister Venus, considered by many to be the most eloquent spokesperson for the Tour – its senior stateswoman – declined to do any media at all in advance of her first-round match here Friday. With Venus, there are extenuating circumstances; as her sister did a year ago, the elder Williams is returning to Indian Wells after a self-imposed absence of 15 years, following the ugly, racially-charged incident here in 2001.
There is nothing on the tour's website beyond a cursory story the day of Sharapova's press conference, located in their "WTA Insider" section. Even a statement by Venus Williams would have been beneficial, although you can understand it's not a story they would want to play up.
The players who came in for the WTA's All-Access hour, which theoretically brings the top eight seeds in for round-table interviews with the media, give a glimpse of what life might be like without Sharapova and, eventually, without Serena Williams, who will be 35 in September.
Here are some excerpts from the crew that did attend. It included Petra Kvitova, Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber, 18-year-old Belinda Bencic, Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska and Garbiñe Muguruza.
It all just seemed somewhat insubstantial, despite the list of talking points the WTA reportedly sent to its players in anticipation of the media interest. SI.com obtained a copy of it. The list really only got a few of the questions right, the basic, self-evident ones. The players didn't really follow the script.
Allowances should be made for the language barrier, and the youth and inexperience of some of the WTA Tour players – especially compared to veterans like Murray and Nadal. Bencic, at 18 the youngest of them by far, was the most emphatic about the fact that she checks everything herself in terms of potential prohibited substances.
Radwanska seemed slightly annoyed by the whole thing. Halep made a joke at Sharapova's expense. Muguruza said she had total trust in "her team" which, of course, Sharapova must have had as well.
For all of them, it seemed as though it was drama that could only happen to someone else, because they themselves weren't taking anything and never would.
