“Hello. My name is Wayne Odnesik I was a tennis player and I take drugs.”
Tennis is a very clean sport compared to other sports like cycling which for years has had fingers pointed at for the drug takers. Certain codes in football in Australia have been disgraced by the number of players who have been involved in drugs. But put tennis alongside other global sports and we have been very fortunate not to have been maligned –99.99% of tennis players play the sport above board.
So the news from the ITF that Odnesik has been caught for a second time is a terrible slight on tennis. That this one cheating rotten apple has done it again barely five years after he was initially banned for drug use, is absolutely confounding and baffling.
The guy can only be referred to as an idiot and you wonder what sort of mind he has, or if he has a brain at all. He allowed everyone to be taken in that he was a reformed person and that he made a bad mistake and that he had changed after the first incident. What a joke! He has taken people for a ride.
He is now banned for 15 years but when that was announced he said he was retiring. 15 years is not enough, he should be banned for life.
Andy Roddick tweeted that the guy is a “cheat” and he feels disgusted that he has “USA after his name”. Andy Murray was just as vocal.
“I think probably deserved, as well, I think it's a good thing,” said Murray. “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.
“It looks bad on everyone else. You know, the antidoping controls have got stricter, I believe, over the last few years. I would say we're doing a lot more than what we were. I certainly feel I'm getting tested a lot more than what I was, many out of competition blood tests from the ITF and also the UK antidoping, as well. Yeah, look, I want to say for myself I feel like it's an inconvenience getting woken up at 6:30 in the morning, but if it gets people that are cheating out of the sport when they are doing it, then I'm all for that.”
The disgusting and low life practices that Odnesik engaged in should also result in any mention or stats or results that he has had in his playing career should be wiped clean. He should be treated as if he never existed in tennis.
Drug cheats should never be allowed to make any appearances in tennis.
