Several ATP players have reacted strongly to the news that Wayne Odesnik has been punished for attempting to import human growth hormone (HGH) into Australia in January.
Top American Andy Roddick was furious, saying Odesnik guilty plea is a undeserved black eye for the sport.
"If he pled guilty, there’s nothing worse than that. I’m normally the one to give people the benefit of the doubt. If that’s the case, what we read today, that’s just plain cheating and they should throw him out of tennis," Roddick said in Miami. "There’s just no room for it. I was shocked. We don’t need stories like that. I know that’s the minority. If that’s the case, I have zero sympathy.”
Australian customs officials found eight vials, each containing six milligrams of the performance-enhancing substance, in his baggage. Odesnik pleaded guilty to trying to import the hormone and was fined more than $7,000 by a Brisbane court on Friday. The left-hander, who reached a career high No. 77 last spring, could be banned from tennis for two years.
“To have it be one of our [American] guys and for us to lose a guy in the top 100, it makes me a little angry,” Roddick continued. “I don’t want that stigma attached to our country and to our players, so it really pisses me off.
"There’s just no room for it. I was shocked. We don’t need stories like that. I know that’s the minority. If that’s the case, I have zero sympathy.”
Odesnik has not returned messages seeking comment.
A fellow player, who wished to remain anonymous, told TENNIS.com that the revelation was less than shocking.
“I’m not surprised about Wayne,” he said. “We all had suspicions about three to four years ago. His upper body got huge at one point and his legs stayed skinny. He had zits all over his back. But it’s never worth all that risk.”
Former ATP Player Council member James Blake called Odesnik, "a nice kid," but said that he doesn’t know him well.
"But it's the same thing you always hear about, that the criminal next door seemed like a nice guy until they found something going on," added Blake. "I wanted to be in the finals of tournaments, I wanted to be in big matches. But if I didn't get there, I wasn't going to do anything to my body first of all to be unfair to the other players, unfair to the sport that I love and possibly to do harm to my body in the future.''
Sam Querrey added, "[Odesnik] messed up there, and he's got to take the consequences. Hopefully he'll learn his lesson… It's pretty easy to not cheat. I don't know why some guys do.''
It is not known whether Odesnik underwent drug testing while in Australia and what the results may have been.
“This is an active case and the ITF, on behalf of the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme, doesn't comment on the particulars until and unless a doping offense has been determined,'' the ITF said in a statement to TENNIS.com.
Roddick was critical of Odesnik even though it has only been established that he possessed the banned substance. “You know you’re not supposed to have it," he said. "You’re not supposed to be anywhere near it. You’re not supposed to know about it. You’re not supposed to smuggle it into a country. If you caught your sons or daughters and they possessed some type of drug, they’re guilty of probably using, as well, correct?”
A blood sample is currently required to conduct an anti-doping test for HGH and the extent of HGH testing in tennis is not clear.
“HGH is the one in every sport where I hope they come up with a test and I hope they start just slamming guys,” Roddick said. “I hope when they do come up with a test for it they don’t tell anybody and they just implement it and start picking people off…. We don’t need that stigma. I take a lot of pride in what we have to do on a daily basis and how responsible we have to be for one jackass to ruin it for the rest of us.”—Matthew Cronin