Hot topic: Is it Wickmayer's ban fair?

U.S. Open semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer was suspended last week for one year by a Belgian anti-doping tribunal, accused of failing to report her whereabouts to drug-testing officials three times. Wickmayer's suspension came as a surprise, because a prosecutor recommended she receive only a warning for missing three tests over 18 months. (read the article on Yahoo! Sports)

At a tearful news conference last Thursday, Wickmayer said she was never properly informed of the online reporting requirements for drug-testing that led to her one-year ban from the sport. The 20 years-old Belgian plans to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.(read the transcript on HCFoo's Tennis Blog)

In my opinion, Wickmayer's ban is far too extreme, given that she didn't fail or miss any dopping test (she just failed reporting her whereabouts), it is proven that the online report system didn't work properly and the players didn't receive information nor education on the system and procedures. A warning would have been more appropiate as the prosecutor recommended. This way they may ruin the career of a young player who probably is not into doping and has received a harder punishment than other players who were tested positive (i.e. Richard Gasquet only was 2 months away from Tour after being tested positive for cocaine).

Appart form unfairness of this ban to Wickmayer, whom we support from this blog, this bring two important problems of anti-doping laws:

- Why the rules, system and tribunal are not the same for players all around the world? Instead, they must stick to their countries authorities. If Wickmayer was not Belgian, she probably wouldn't have been banned. Belgian authorities have already been proved too be excessively strict concerning anti-doping rules, as in 2004 when they wrongly acussed Svetlana Kuznetsova of doping (read it on CNN.com)

- Is it fair that players have to communicate where they are at any time and be available for testing 365 days a year? Many players, as ATP No.2 Rafael Nadal, have already complained about this. This is really problematic for tennis players, as they spend 10 months out of home and their plans are always changing depending on if they are accepted into a tournament, in which round they lose, if they are healthy or must withdraw from a tournament... I think for tennis players it would be easier to test in tournaments, and only test out-of-competition in the off-season or when a player takes a 3-4 week break from tournaments.

So, what's your oppinion on this hot topic?

Hot topic: Female tennis stars asked to cover up for Australian Open

Female tennis stars participating in the Australian Open have been asked to give up skimpy outfits, and cover up at the Melbourne event. The move came after French player Alize Cornet caused a stir in the Hopman Cup last week with a revealing, see-through top during a doubles match, reports The Sunday Herald Sun. The Australian Open officials have threatened to impose a fine up to 2000 dollars for any player who broke strict dress code.

What dou you think about this, are the female players dresses too sexy or are the tournmanent organizers too strict?

Hot topic: Sharapova vs WTA Tour

Without any doubt, the controversial statements of Maria Sharapova against the WTA Tour has been the hottest topic of the last few weeks. It all started when Maria withdrew from the Tier I being held in Berlin this week. Players must give an injury reason to wothdraw from a tournament they have been scheduled by the WTA, but this time Maria was sincere and confessed she was healthy, so she will be probably fined. Here is the statement on her website:
"As many of you know, the WTA tour makes many players enter tournaments that they know the players will not be playing. I informed the WTA several months ago that if I played Charleston, I would have to pull out of Berlin. Now they are forcing me to give an injury for the reason why I am pulling out or they will give me an additional fine on top of the 125,000 fine already given to me. I am a very giving person, but I refuse to give anymore of my money to the WTA tour.So I want everyone to know that besides getting sick the past few days, I am healthy and I am looking forward to playing Rome. The good news is that the new road map for next year should solve all these problems."

And this week Maria has charged against the WTA Tour again. The reason is a photoshoot that the WTA has scheduled during the tournament of Rome for its new marketing campaign which may last for 4 hours. According to the WTA rules, the players must collaborate in different marketing and social activities during the tournaments, otherwise they may be fined. Thus Maria and the rest of the players have taken part throughout the years in a lot of events and activities. But Maria's patience is over. She has said that she doesn't like to be involved in photoshoots the day before or during a tournament, as she may get tired and lose her concentration. And she has asked her fans through a poll on her website what should she do, go to the photoshoot or skip it and be fined. Furthermore Maria has critised the attitude of WTA Tour executives who "don't ever listen to players and walk around like they are the stars" and has warned to start talking about the what is really behind the scenes at life on Tour.

So who do you support, Maria or the WTA Tour?

Hot topic: Wild-cards for a dopping offender?

Sesil Karatantcheva, 18 yo player from Bulgaria, was banned for two years on January 2006 after being tested positive for nandrolone on Roland Garros 2005. Karatantcheva, who was just 15 yo when she reached Grand Slam quarter-final and WTA #35 rank, unsuccessfully claimed the nandrolone was self-produced due to pregnancy and later abortion. Now, on January 2008, she has paid her offence and ready for a comeback, but she may face antoher problem. She has no ranking points so she is not able to enter tournaments directly and must rely on invitations (wild-cards) from the tournaments. But many organizations do not want to give a wild-card to a dopping offender.

In fact she was already denied a wild-card for qualies in $25000 ITF tournament in Tampa (Florida). USTA (United States Tennis Association) stated that they'd rather give the wild-card to an american young player, but finally gave it to Stephanie Herz from Netherlands. And for $25000 ITF tournament in Surprise (Arizona), she has been forced to play a pre-qualy event to get a qualification wild-card.

On the one hand some people state that no benefit should be awarded to a player who has committed a doping offense and that she should start from the lowest, playing qualies of $10000 tournaments in case draw is not completed with ranked players. The most strict people even suggest that dopping bans should be for life.

On the other hand some people think that she has already paid for what she did, so she should be considered as any other player. And any player with her potential and past results wouldn't be denied a wild-card. And she hasn't asked for a WTA tournament, but just a $25000 qualification. Moreover she was just 15 when dopped, so she wasn't totally responsible and that mistake shouldn't condition her whole career.

So what's your opinion? Leave a comment if you feel.

UPDATE: Karatantcheva got the qualy WC in Surprise as she won the pre-qualy tournament. And not only she passed the qualy in without dropping a set, but she also won the whole tournament. I hope next time she will get a well deserved WC.