The Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP) has issued its testing report for Q3 (July-September) 2018 (not until I messaged them about it though, it was already two weeks overdue at this point). The overall number of samples collected has remained largerly the same compared to the second quarter, so the only thing of note is the slight drop regarding OOC tests (blood tests in particular). However, this report made me aware that the WADA has released its 2017 report by now which allows me to take a closer look at both the WADA and the TADP reports for 2017. Before I’ll be doing that, however, I’ll list USADA’s test history for the third quarter:
| Athlete Name |
Test Count |
| Jennifer Brady |
1 |
| Michael C Bryan |
1 |
| Robert C Bryan |
1 |
| Lauren Davis |
1 |
| Jared Donaldson |
1 |
| Ryan Harrison |
1 |
| John Isner |
2 |
| Madison Keys |
1 |
| Christina M McHale |
1 |
| Alison Riske |
1 |
| Shelby Rogers |
1 |
| Dylan Scott |
1 |
| Jack Sock |
1 |
| Donald Young |
1 |
It is noteworthy that despite the controversy regarding Serena Williams having been visited by a USADA agent for an unannounced drug test not a single test session initiated or requested by the USADA for Serena Williams has since occured.
Now, onto WADA’s 2017 anti-doping testing figures reports. This report details the results of analyses performed by WADA-accredited laboratories. It does not detail, however, whether any of the AAFs or ATFs (see here for definitions of the terms used in the report) have resulted in Anti-Doping Violations (ADVs), which are included in a separate and yet to be published report.
The WADA report mainly allows to analyse and discuss four key points:
- How many samples were collected and analysed under the TADP and how many under each NADO
- Which NADO had the most and least samples collected and analysed
- How many ATFs and AAFs finally resulted in ADVs (this is merely possible by comparison with the TADP report for 2017 and deduction)
- For which substances have the samples been tested
I’ll tackle each of these four key points separately and add some corollary observations to each.
1. How many samples were collected and analysed under the TADP and how many under each NADO?
The TADP report only lists the number of samples collected. The TADP applies to all players who hold an ATP or WTA ranking or enter or compete in an event organised, sanctioned or recognised by the ITF, including Junior, Senior and Wheelchair events. It does not, however, include samples collected by NADOs. The WADA report, on the other hand, only lists the number of samples which have been analysed, no matter which organisation collected them. Furthermore, there are separate listing for Sports for Athletes with an Impairment, Winter Sports and so on.
The WADA report shows that a total of 5,959 samples have been analysed (p. 45 — I’ll refer to the page numbers of the document to avoid confusion). A total of 309 samples have been analysed in the division of Tennis for athletes with an impairment (p. 56). Therefore we end up with a grand total of 6,268 samples (excluding ABP samples) that have been analysed in WADA-accredited laboratories in 2017.
Of these 5,959 analysed samples 4,919 analysed samples have been collected under the TADP (i.e. the ITF) whereas 1,040 analysed samples have been collected under NADOs (p. 246). In regard to the 309 samples analysed in the division of Tennis for athletes with an impairment, 225 analysed samples were collected under the TADP and 84 analysed samples were collected under NADOs (p. 294). Lastly, the WADA report also lists the number of ABP samples analysed (collected by both the TADP and the NADOs) for non-impaired athletes (1079 analysed samples, p.306) and impaired athletes (84 analysed samples, p. 309), resulting in a total of 1163 analysed samples. Of these 1163 analysed samples 1127 samples were collected by the TADP (pp. 323, 334).
The TADP report of 2017 indicates that a grand total of 6,293 samples have been collected. Of these 6,293 samples 1,137 samples were collected as ABP samples. The WADA report, on the other hand, shows that only 6,271 samples that were collected under the TADP have been analysed, resulting in a discrepancy of 22 samples (10 of which were collected as ABP samples) that were collected but not analysed. It is unknown and up to speculation where this discrepancy stems from.
2. Which NADO had the most and the least samples collected and analysed?
For the non-impaired division of Tennis, the numbers of samples analysed that were collected by NADOs are listed on p. 246 of the WADA report.
It is worth looking at which NADO does comparatively test more given the number of that nation’s players being subject to testing. Whereas the German, Italian and French NADOs comparatively do a lot of testing the Spanish, Serbian, Chinese or Russian NADOs are quite clearly lagging behind. It’s also interesting to see that the USADA exclusively does in-competition testing.
3. Which ATFs and AAFs finally resulted in ADVs?
This question can only be answered in regard to samples that were collected and analysed under the TADP. For 2017, the summary lists a grand total of 6 ADVs that were determined under the Programme. Analysis of the grand total of 6,268 samples resulted in 28 AAFs under the TADP (26 for the non-impaired, 2 for the impaired division) and 5 AAFs under the NADOs, resulting in a total of 33 AAFs (31 when accounting only for the non-impaired division). It can be concluded that 21,4% of the AAFs under the TADP were determined to be ADVs. It is reasonable to assume that for the remaining 78,6% of the AAFs there were TUEs in effect.
The WADA will release a full report detailing the ADVs that have been determined in 2017 probably by Spring 2019.
4. For which substances have the samples been tested?
I’m not an expert on doping agents which is why I can’t do any in-depth analysis or commentary in regard to which substances the samples have been tested for. I can only urge anyone who’s actually versed in these things to look through he tables 9-22 of the ‘by sport’ section (pp. 65-90) of the WADA report, I’m sure that there are interesting things to find and take from those statistics.
Tennis Has A Doping Problem 