Top Tennis Players Calling For Increased Blood Testing In Sport To Get Their Wish In 2013

Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and other leading tennis players calling for increased blood testing in tennis "could get their wish" in '13 with the introduction of athlete biological passports to the sport, according to Simon Cambers of REUTERS. The biological passport is a "method of monitoring selected biological parameters over time, rather than trying to detect individual substances, and was considered one of the main reasons for the success in catching cheats in cycling." Int'l Tennis Federation Exec Dir, Science & Technical Dr. Stuart Miller said, "We're looking very, very closely at it and I think there's a reasonably good chance that will be operational probably towards the end of 2013." The Tennis Anti-Doping Program, which operates under the World Anti-Doping Agency code is funded by the ITF along with the ATP and WTA tours and grand slams. On Tuesday, the ITF "confirmed that the total investment" in the anti-doping program was $2M per year (REUTERS, 1/22).