RAFAEL NADAL HAS defended his training methods and vehemently denied he had ever used a banned substance to get an edge or to speed up recovery from injury.
Nadal was at the Indian Wells tournament discussing Maria Sharapova’s failed drug test — “She should be punished” — when he seized the opportunity to scotch unfounded rumors that he had used performance-enhancing drugs.
“I have never had the temptation of doing something wrong. I am very far from that, doping,” said the 14-time grand slam winner, who has been hard hit in recent years by injury.
I am a completely clean guy. I worked so hard during my career that when I get injured I never take nothing (banned) to be back quicker.
Throughout his trophy-laden career Nadal, 29, has been periodically dogged by whispers of doping.
“I heard it a few times again about doping from my person and I am a little bit tired with that,” Nadal said, adding that he sees himself as an ambassador for tennis and wouldn’t tarnish his image as a role model for young players.
“I believe in the sport and the values of the sport,” the Spaniard said.
“The sport is an example for society. It is an example for the kids and if I am doing something that goes against that, I will be lying to myself, not lying to my opponents.”
Nadal said over the course of his career he has taken advantage of some new treatments for his knee problems, like stem-cell therapy and Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy, often known as blood spinning.
“I have been open all my career. I never tried to hide nothing that I did,” Nadal said. “I did PRP and then I did stem cells.
“The first time with PRP it worked fantastic and the second time it was bad. I had to stop playing tennis for seven months.
“And with stem cells I used it two times on my knees and it worked very well.
“I am not doing, never did, and am never going to do something wrong.”
Nadal added that a Spanish team doctor monitors what medication the players are taking to make sure it is safe.
“He has been the doctor for all the Spanish players for a number of years. I would never take nothing that he doesn’t know about,” he said.
Former world number one Sharapova announced Monday that she failed a drug test at the Australian Open in January.
Sharapova tested positive for Meldonium, which was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list this year.
Nadal said Sharapova deserves to be punished as an example to others.
“It is difficult to imagine that something like this can happen. But mistakes happen,” he said. “She should be punished.
“I want to believe it is a mistake for Maria. She didn’t want to do it. But obviously it is negligence. She must pay for it.”
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That’s incredible
@Jim Demps: the fast lane was left wide open for Wade to get through… You wouldn’t see a hole that big in regular season. Still though, great vision and speed to score. Big things await this guy.
@Peter Cavey: it certainly does have all the hall marks of a pre season game but to score on a 65 yarder on your first touch is pretty special.
Delighted for him. Took some set of balls to do this, hope it works out for him.
Delighted for tbe guy, took way too much flak on departure.
That’s the thing about American Football.. Runners usually don’t sidestep, jink or hand-off, just take the contact and set up again. Strange Sport. (Not saying that I could do any better.)
@Seamus Quinn: they do jink and sidestep
@Colm Connolly: and I’m pretty sure he didn’t sidestep or hand off anyone en route to scoring that TD either….
@Liam Flague: I’m not saying he did but the original comment said that running backs dont jink or sidestep which is clearly not true if you have ever watch even 1 game
@Colm Connolly: I know, but, y’know.. more.
@Seamus Quinn: You must be watching a different sport to the one I watch. Literally the best side steps and jinks in world sport are found in the NFL.
@Liam Flague: He certainly seems to send the first defender the wrong way with a shimmy just after he gets the ball. No-one’s expecting someone to get through that area with the ball in hand so after that yeah it’s a straight race and he doesn’t need to step anyone else.
@Seamus Quinn: no hand off cos the defender will rip your arm off if you try . Loads of jinks and steps by running backs though
@Limón Madrugada: Fair enough. Arms are kinda handy. Still think they’re in the habit of taking the hit instead of trying to beat the last man. Wade might try things a little differently..