In an exclusive interview with Dominic Thiem via ES Fancast, a statement from the past about doping was brought to attention. Controversies around doping are one of the most debatable topics in tennis or any sport for that matter. Recently, one such incident took center stage that involved Simona Halep.
Dominic Thiem was asked to speak again about the situation in reference to one of the statements he had delivered years ago about doping in tennis and how he is confident in all the players he knows who would never get involved in anything like this. Would he still stand by his statement even after the truth about Simona Halep’s ban has come to attention?
Dominic Thiem talks about the doping statement and the ban on Simona Halep
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In the ES Fancast interview, Dominic Thiem who is one of the most beloved tennis stars on the tour was asked about a statement he gave on tennis players and doping. The host Noah Lack asked Thiem about his statement from 2019 which was, “Tennis is clean. I would put my hand on the fire for all the top players I know. We are off to controlled and even if someone would punch something in, I do not think it would make him play better.”
Lack further asked Thiem if he still agreed with this statement given the fiasco around Simona Halep and in general. To which he responded, “Yes, I still stand with what I said back then because we get controlled so often so it’s crazy first of all. And second of all it’s also crazy how much we need to take care you know. I am scared of every drink I take. We get controlled everything blood and urine, 6 in the morning 10 at night twice a week, or even more often. So, I think tennis is very clean.”
Thiem’s statement truly shows that he still believes in the sport and stands by what he said before. And it is true to a certain extent as the frequency of the tests being done is so often that the probability of any doping issue gets cut off. Even though Halep’s 8-month-long suspension has brought this issue to the headlines again, Thiem’s stand on the topic remains unchanged.
The incident with Simona Halep certainly strung every tennis player on tour right now. Before Halep, the incident that had so much effect on everyone was the one involving Maria Sharapova. Let’s take a look at that.
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Maria Sharapova was also charged with a doping penalty
It was in 2016 that Maria Sharapova, former world number 1 who is now retired from tennis was charged with a doping case. She was guilty of consuming a drug named Mildronate which is also called Meldonium. After she failed the drug test, this discovery was made.
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She had been taking this medicine for 10 years due to the irregular pattern of her heartbeat. However, this drug is also known to increase the physical abilities of athletes. Dominic Thiem also mentioned this incident in his statement from the year 2019. He said, “After all, there was a prominent case with Maria Sharapova a few years ago. Tennis is clean.” He had mentioned that after the case with Sharapova, nothing as such had happened. However, Thiem would go on record to say that tennis is clean.
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