Intrepid Los Angeles Times reporter Lisa Dillman was one of the reporters who spoke with Maria Emilia Salerni after she lost in the second round to Daniela Hantuchova. Why the sudden interest in a woman who got just three games off someone who’s been one of the least reliable and enigmatic performers on the women's tour?
Salerni is the girlfriend of Guillermo Canas, the most recent player (and fourth Argentine) suspended for doping. The restrictions on Canas' engagement with the tour are strict, as Lisa reports.
It’s touching that Rafael Nadal and Carlos Moya would go to bat for Canas; on the other hand, wouldn’t it be weird if Canas were able to get credentials as a tournament guest or even coach? Sure it would be nice for his girlfriend. His buddies on the tour would like it too; just think, he could kick back and chew the fat in the locker room with, oh, Mariano Puerta, or Juan Ignacio Chela . . .
Okay, I’m being a little wicked. But seriously—if doping is a serious offense that brings the game into disrepute, keep the violators as far from the game as you can.
And if it’s not that serious, or it is but you'd rather keep everybody happy, drastically reduce the penalties for doping.
Back in the day, when Jimmy Connors was getting hammered on all sides for being a disrespectful punk, he persistently refused to rationalize or apologize for his behavioral lapses, saying, “If I do the crime, I’m always ready to do the time. I have no excuses or complaints.”
We had a lot of debate on this subject at TW a few weeks ago, and there's no need to rehash. Nor do I want to demonize Canas right now. But look—if you're going to have rules, enforce them. Sure Canas feels badly, and his friends feel badly for him, and his girlfriend really thinks it's unfair.
But so what? Talk to Ken Lay's friends and wife, or Martha Stewart's, or the loved ones of any other celebrated scofflaw or white collar criminal. They all throw around words like unfair or scapegoat. Like Canas, they're successful, respected, and otherwise decent folks. They do not think of themselves as being capable of doing something wrong. That's for bad people, right? Criminals are losers while me, I'm successful, admired, a good person, therefore I couldn't have done anything really wrong. This is unfair!.
That's the arrogance of the white-collar criminal in a nutshell, and that's just what doping is. If Canas somehow is exonerated, I'll apologize publicly in this space.
P.S.—Hat tip to Kamakshi Tandon of Court Coverage for the link to Lisa's story. She needs a little love today, because Mariano Puerta blew her off after he lost in five sets to Stanislas Wawrinka.
Kamakshi's a soft-spoken person (yes, they exist in the press) who wouldn't say boo to a ghost. She approached Puerta and asked the presumably reformed doper if he could answer two questions in English. He told her "no" point blank, saying he had a plane to catch. He then proceeded to stand around with a few Spanish reporters, yakking away. We've all been there, K.
Click on her site a few extra times today . . .