Agassi comes out fighting

Tennis, Australian Open: Whatever the outcome of Greg Rusedski's tribunal next month, there is no doubt that men's tennis has been greatly damaged by the constant talk of drugs and drug taking during the past seven months, and the past few days in particular. Suddenly the sport has found itself bracketed with athletics and cycling, and the pain is acute.

The players are frequently indignant, and officials of the ITF, the world governing body, are increasingly concerned about the way the ATP, the men's authority, is handling what Rusedski described as the sport's biggest scandal. As yet nobody has been able to explain fully what the World Anti-Doping Agency director general David Howman has described as "the rash of nandrolone positives, or near positives" - a total of 47, of which eight, including Rusedski's, have been illegal. This uncertainty is what is causing the most damage.

"What I've seen over the last number of weeks is that we have a real concern that leaves us only drinking water or certain bottled products (as safe) but yet wake up to the integrity of our sport being questioned. And that's the shame in it," said Andre Agassi, the reigning champion who yesterday defeated the Czech qualifier Tomas Berdych 6-0, 6-2, 6-4 for his 23rd consecutive victory on the hard courts here.

"A number of days ago I had some sort of irritation on the back of my right hand, leaving me with some swelling. I needed to put on some sort of lotion, but in order for me to put on a basic irritant cream I had to fill out three pages of forms and get them faxed to confirm I was okay to put the cream on," Agassi went on. "That's how we live, yet we wake up to headlines suggesting that our sport is lacking in its ability to deal with the potential of drug cheats."

The brutal truth is that the ATP, from the failed $1.2 billion business deal with the sports marketing firm ISL through to the admission its own trainers may have drugged its players, has been incompetent, and why its chief executive Mark Miles remains in his job is a mystery.

The current restrictions on supplements and drinks have clearly come as an unwelcome surprise to many of the players. "It's definitely a burden to bear. It's not easy to do what we do, especially with these sorts of strict regulations, but that's what we have to do," said Agassi.

Before last May, when new rules were imposed because of the nandrolone positive tests, there was a huge amount of laxity concerning supplements on the men's circuit. Some of those holes have been plugged, and awareness levels raised. But until WADA completes its overview, and Rusedski's tribunal hearing is completed, the suspicion will continue.

An ATP spokesperson yesterday played down suggestions the British number two's fate might be influenced by the make-up and procedure of his tribunal on February 9th. It was put to the ATP that Rusedski's hearing might be conducted via a telephone conference call between the parties, and that this implied he might be cleared because it was the method used last year when six other players were exonerated. But the spokesperson said tribunals were not all conducted over the phone, and it was also common practice to have conference calls before a hearing.

Meanwhile, Bohdan Ulihrach has called for the entire testing system to be scrapped. The Czech, who was banned for two years and then cleared, has offered his help to Rusedski and could be called as a witness by conference call. After losing to Andy Roddick yesterday, Ulihrach said the circumstances that led to his positive test made it impossible for the current screening programme to be trusted.

Agassi next plays Sweden's Thomas Enqvist, the 1999 runner-up. Enqvist, who struggled badly in 2003, defeated Slovakia's Karol Beck 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.