By Chris Oddo | Saturday March 12, 2016

 

Novak Djokovic points out that tennis' anti-doping agency could do a much better job of liaising with the tour and its players.

Photo Source: Matthew Stockman/Getty

One takeaway from Maria Sharapova’s positive drug test? The communications that currently exist between the sport’s anti-doping agency and the players isn’t effective enough.

There is quantity, then there is quality.

Sharapova took to Facebook on Friday to state that the quality of WADA’s communication isn’t up to snuff. “The other “communications?” Sharapova wrote about the multiple emails and warning that she is rumored to have ignored. “They were buried in newsletters, websites, or handouts.”

Reports last week accused Sharapova of being warned five times by WADA and other officials about the impending changes to the banned substance list. But there are more effective ways to warn a player than by simply sending out generic emails that consist of links to the changes.

“On [one] email, if a player wanted to find the specific facts about medicine added to the anti-doping list, it was necessary to open the “Player News” email, read through about a dozen unrelated links, find the “Player Zone” link, enter a password, enter a username, read a home screen with more than three dozen different links covering multiple topics, find the “2016 Changes to Tennis Anti-Doping Program and Information” link, click on it and then read a page with approximately three dozen more links covering multiple anti-doping matters,” Sharapova wrote.

The Russian was not trying to claim innocence, but was instead reacting to media reports that she had been warned five times about meldonium being placed on the banned list.

This isn’t to say that Maria Sharapova, or any of the other 99 athletes that have tested positive for meldonium in 2016 (across all sports, according to an AP report), isn’t at fault. But the fact that so many athletes are being caught unawares by the changes points to the need for a more transparent dialog between anti-doping, the tours and the players.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic stated that WADA would be well-served to up its communications game.

“Whether or not she was informed before or not, I don't know that,” Djokovic said, before adding: “I think the communication maybe from the side of the governing bodies of tennis maybe should be a little bit better in terms of involvement of maybe ATP, as well, because I feel like maybe sometimes ATP is stepping on the side because it's a matter of ITF and WADA.

Djokovic says that it’s easy for the ITF and WADA to sit back and say you’ve been warned, but are they really interacting with the players and their teams enough to help them avoid career-damaging mistakes? WADA clearly knew that they had a serious issue developing with regard to meldonium use, so why not be more proactive about informing the athletes that a medication that is commonly used will no longer be legal?

Did they not see a rash of positive-for-meldonium tests coming?

“We live a very busy life and there is a lot happening,” Djokovic said. “I think at least what we can do is to have this double, you know, kind of confirmation of the change also from ATP side.

“I'm trying to understand both sides. I'm trying to understand. I don't put the blame on ATP. I'm just saying there are maybe ways to improve the communication so that these things don't happen in the future.

Djokovic went on to discuss the disappointment he felt when he watched his childhood friend Viktor Troicki get banned for 18 months for what he felt was a misunderstanding between Troicki and a test admistrator.

“Those kind of things, you know, need to be communicated better I think in order not to kind of damage the player's career,” he said.