Tennis To Have Biological Passport Database By End Of Year To Fight Blood Doping

Tennis will have a biological passport database by the end of the year to "try to end suspicions of blood doping," according to Barry Flatman of the SUNDAY TIMES. The top players "will be most closely examined." The Int'l Tennis Federation, working to guidelines set by the World Anti-Doping Agency, said that it is "committed to updating its surveillance and recognises the need to accelerate blood testing to bring tennis in line with other sports." A $1.8M budget will have to be increased and the ITF will financially partner with the ATP World Tour, the WTA and the Grand Slam Committee "in the same way it did nearly five years ago to form the Tennis Integrity Unit, designed to investigate and prosecute those guilty of gambling corruption in tennis." The collection and analysis of blood samples is a "far more complicated and expensive process than the long-standing urine process." The costs of transporting and analyzing each individual sample can surpass $1,000 (SUNDAY TIMES, 1/27).