Andy Murray tells the Scotland Herald that he favors more blood testing to catch doping cheats in tennis. Murray was blood-tested when he arrived in France for the Paris-Bercy Masters on Saturday.
"We're not used to doing that many blood tests in tennis," he said. "I've probably had four or five blood tests this year, but a lot more urine [tests], so it's something that's obviously necessary. When you hear things like [Lance Armstrong] it's a shame for their sport but how they managed to get away with it is incredible, for that long."
The newspaper said that in 2011, only 21 blood tests were conducted in the off-season by the International Tennis Federation and the World Anti-Doping Agency.
"We get tested throughout the whole year from a lot of the tournaments [but] I think the out-of-competition stuff could get better," he said. "When we're in December, when people are training and setting their bases I think it would be good to try and do more around that time."
However, last week both Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova said that anti-doping rules and testing in tennis is stringent enough.
"Considering I landed from New York [after the U.S. Open] and my first day back at home I got a wake-up call at 6:00 a.m., I think that's enough,” Sharapova said with a laugh. “Yep, knocking on my door. I was like, ‘Thank you. Welcome home.’ "
According to 2011 ITF statistics, Sharapova was tested a minimum of four times and maximum of six times in competition, and a minimum of one time and maximum of three times outside of competition.
In 2011, Williams was tested a minimum of one time and a maximum of three times in competition, but she was not tested not out of competition. However, Williams missed the first five and a half months of 2011 due to illness and injury. The 15-time Grand Slam champion says she feels the current anti-doping program is strong enough.
"Stringent enough is putting it mildly," Williams said. "People show up at my house at 5:00 in the morning trying to test me. You never know when they come. I get tested a lot. I don't know about the other players, but for me it's a pretty intense system, and I know a lot of the players feel the same way."
The ITF subjects all the Top 50 players to the Whereabouts Rule, where they have to inform the federation where they will be every day of the year and be available at least one hour a day for testing. While Sharapova says that the rule is irritating, she does support it.
"I know it seems difficult to have to give one hour every single day, but I usually have my hour somewhere in the middle of the night because I'm not going to be anywhere but in my bed," the Russian said. "If they come get me up they can wait and I can wait until I have to go to the bathroom. It's the most awkward thing when they knock on your door at 6:00 in the morning in you're walking around in your robe and your dog is going, ‘What is going on? Who are these strangers?’ It's just a really bizarre situation."