Henman adds voice to drug testing fears

Tim Henman's voice was to the fore when the ATP's Task Force on Supplements met for the first time here yesterday.

Tim Henman's voice was to the fore when the ATP's Task Force on Supplements met for the first time here yesterday.

The British No 1 warned the governing body of the men's tour that "We're shooting ourselves in the foot and people are thinking we are like cycling or something.''

Henman was referring to the numerous cases of low-level positive tests for the steroid nandrolone that had come to light at tournaments during the past 18 months. The most prominent of the "nandro-clones'' are the Czech Bohdan Ulihrach and Greg Rusedski, the British No 2, both of whom were exonerated after testing positive. Ulihrach served a year of a two-year ban before his appeal was upheld.

Six other players tested for lower levels of the substance but with the same analytical fingerprints as Ulihrach and Rusedski, and 45 other samples also had the same common fingerprint.

Henman made the point that Roger Federer, the Wimbledon champion and world No 1, had been tested 23 times last year with negative results, and that this was a high ratio of testing compared to other sports.

The task force, comprising current and former tour players, administrators and pharmaceutical scientists, is scheduled to hold two further meetings, in Hamburg and Toronto later in the year, in an attempt to find a better way of helping players manage the risks associated with taking vitamins, minerals and nutritional supplements.

Rusedski has declared an interest in joining the task force to advise players on the basis of his own experience. Mark Miles, the ATPs chief executive, told yesterday's meeting: "You have a commitment. This is not a PR exercise.''

Most of the meeting was an open session in the presence of the media, the task force then closing the doors before discussing how they would proceed next in dealing with the problem. The agenda included the problem of contaminated supplements; ATP's rules and policies on supplements; a case study of the difficulties once confronted by the Dutch Olympic team; a possible partnership between the ATP and a supplement monitoring and certification agency; and a testing programme for the ATP.

At one point during yesterday's meeting, Andre Agassi, the former world No 1, walked over to a screen where slides were being displayed, pointed to a graph and inquired about the different levels of nandrolone displayed. He wanted to know at what threshold the contamination is deemed performance-enhancing and wondered how testing could be done more efficiently.

"I got tested 20 times last year,'' Agassi said, "Can we not improve the testing schedule?''

The meeting was held on the eve of the main draw matches starting at the Nasdaq Open here, the second Masters Series tournament of the year. Henman, who was defeated by Federer in the final of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, last Sunday, faces a daunting draw.

Seeded No 7, and given a bye in the first round, Henman will play either the 6ft 10in Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who beat Lleyton Hewitt in the first round at Wimbledon last year, or the Austrian Jürgen Melzer in the second round.

If he succeeds there, Henman may play the talented Fin Jarkko Nieminen in the third round. Looming after that could be Hewitt, Henman's bête noire, in the fourth round, with the prospect of Federer in the quarter-finals.