MELBOURNE, 18 January 2005 — US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, one of three players at the center of tennis doping allegations, says she is not a drugs cheat and is upset that Belgian authorities inadvertently pointed the finger at her. The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), the governing body for professional players, is also furious at the reports.
“These are unsubstantiated rumors and it would be irresponsible to comment any further,” WTA chief executive Larry Scott said in a statement.
Kuznetsova, the world’s fifth ranked player, was implicated in the scandal after Belgian sports minister Claude Eerdekens said an unidentified player had failed a doping test at an exhibition tournament in Charleroi last month.
Only four players took part in the event and Eerdekens said one of them, Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne, had been cleared, putting the spotlight on the other three — Kuznetsova, fellow Russian Elena Dementieva and Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy.
All three women have pleaded their innocence and both the WTA and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said no-one has informed them about any positive tests.
But Kuznetsova, one of the favorites to win the Australian Open, said the trio had all been tarnished by the Belgian accusations.
“I think definitely it’s unfair,” she told a news conference after thrashing American qualifier Jessica Kirkland 6-1, 6-1 in the first round yesterday.
“They don’t know nothing for sure yet. They don’t know what was the thing what player took (sic), and they don’t know who.”
Kuznetsova again maintained her innocence, saying she had been tested 11 times last year, and was confident the other players were clean as well.
“I’m not worried. I am definitely not using nothing to push myself up in the game... I’m pretty sure about this,” she said. “I’m pretty sure that everybody’s pretty clean... because the anti-doping program, it doesn’t allow us to take nothing. “Even when you’re sick, even if somebody had some problems, we cannot take even normal pills that everybody’s taking.”
The Australian Open has been plagued by doping scandals in the past decade and Tennis Australia President Geoff Pollard said he was unhappy about the latest rumors.
