“Don’t seem to be getting tired” Andy Murray once indirectly suspected Novak Djokovic of doping during his prime
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray
Amongst all the limelight the sporting world has, it still has its own dark sides and doping is one of the darkest given the repercussions it has. While doping is way more prominent in combat sports or athletics, tennis also has had its fair share of players who have been tested positive for doping or consuming any illegal substance for performance enhancement.
Back in 2016, Andy Murray was in his prime and was the World No.1. But despite his best form, Murray lost to Novak Djokovic in some of the biggest matches of the year. He lost the 2016 Australian Open final to Djokovic and also lost the Madrid Masters final to Djokovic.
During the clay season, Murray addressed the doping issue and without taking any names, suspected that some players on the tour might definitely be doping. In an interview, he said that he has had thoughts about players using performance-enhancing drugs because some players don’t seem to get tired despite playing back-to-back long matches.
“I have played against players and thought, ‘They won’t go away’ or ‘They don’t seem to be getting tired’,” Murray told the Daily Mail a few years back. “Have I ever been suspicious of someone? Yeah. You hear things.”
Although Murray never took Djokovic’s name, the Serb’s coach back then, Boris Becker slammed Murray for his comments and hence it was pretty obvious that Murray’s comments were intended toward Djokovic.
Andy Murray on how it is difficult to judge whether someone is doping in tennis or not
Murray alleged that it is very hard to tell whether someone is doping or not as people can make big improvements to a stroke or start serving better because they have made technical changes and nobody can question that.
“It’s harder to tell in our sport as people can make big improvements to a stroke or start serving better because they have made technical changes. If it’s purely physical and you’re watching someone playing six-hour matches over and over and showing no signs of being tired, you’d look at that,” he said.
Lakshya Chopra
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