Some of the top names in men's tennis reacted to a peer's 15-year ban from the sport for a second doping violation. Their responses were expected but still had an eerie sentiment similar to that of the Major League Baseball players' appearance before Congress in 2005.
The difference is that doping is not considered an issue in tennis, thanks to the safeguards in place in the sport.
Tennis.com reported that 29-year-old American Wayne Odesnik announced his retirement this week after the Tennis Anti-Doping Program and the USADA reported that he tested positive for a banned substance three times during the offseason.
Odesnik, who also was found in possession of HGH in 2010 and served a one-year ban, this time received a 15-year sentence and promptly announced his retirement from professional tennis.
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The punishment was lauded around the ATP, several of whose players approved of Odesnik's removal from the tour.
"I believe two separate samples, which is two failed tests," world No. 4 Andy Murray told Tennis.com. "So they should be treated as individual cases. They were I think quite a few weeks apart. So he clearly was taking something and trying to get an advantage. It's good for tennis to get him off the tour and away from the tour, because we don't want that being part of the tour."
Murray added that he felt the testing policy in tennis had become stricter in recent years, which has its pluses and minuses.
"I want to say for myself I feel like it's an inconvenience getting woken up at 6:30 in the morning, but if it gets people that are cheating out of the sport when they are doing it, then I'm all for that," he said.
Yahoo! Sports reported that the 267th-ranked Odesnik used the excuse most often used in doping cases:
"Upon learning of my positive test results I was immediately heartbroken as words could not describe my shock and disappointment," he said. "Being the most tested American tennis player on tour, I would never knowingly have taken any chance of consuming a banned substance."
World No. 3 Rafael Nadal doesn't know Odesnik, but said, "Obviously when that happens twice, you don't deserve to be on the tour."
Roger Federer, the No. 2 player, echoed his contemporaries' sentiments.
"It's good you catch guys who don't do things they shouldn't be doing," he said. "Players and athletes should know if they cheat, they get caught. That's the moral of the story here. I didn't know him at all, personally. But I'm all for a clean sport, and that's why you've got to catch those guys who don't do the things they are supposed to be doing."
But the harshest criticism came from former player Andy Roddick, the last American to achieve the No. 1 ranking.
@andrewikesports my feelings are that he's a douchebag and I hate that he has a US flag next to his name when he's cheating. Good riddance— andyroddick (@andyroddick) March 18, 2015
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