Maria Sakkari has called the current handling of drug testing in tennis as 'scary' amid the current case surrounding Simona Halep, who was recently banned for four years.
Sakkari who is playing this week in San Diego was asked if she trusts the doping authorities after the decision to ban the former World No.1 for four years and she said that everything is very much unclear.
She said that it will get to a point where players can't even take electrolytes with fears of testing positive and that the app to alert players on testing doesn't work very well.
She even said that she fears going to the toilet in the middle of the night in case she is close to her slot to test and remains in the dark a lot of the time in terms of when it will happen.
“One thing I can tell you for sure is the way they’re handling every situation with any player, any athlete, it’s just scary. We’re gonna get to a point where we’re not even gonna be taking electrolytes. Thankfully, I haven’t been in that position. I never want to be.. I’ve been very careful with everything that has to do with supplements," said Sakkari via San Diego Open Press.
"But I don’t know what the process is, how things are done behind closed doors. I don’t know who has a say. I have no idea.. I would for sure improve the whereabouts app that the anti-doping app. It doesn’t work well. It’s supposed to remind you every day of your time slot & it doesn’t. They tried to improve it, but it’s not working very well. For us, we travel so much compared to other athletes. It’s just very stressful. I wake up almost every night to use the bathroom. If that’s close to my time slot, I’m just thinking ‘Do I go? Do I not go? Do I just wait if they come?’ It’s just very stressful.”
Maria Sakkari was asked if she trusts the doping authorities after the decision in Simona Halep case: “One thing I can tell you for sure is the way they’re handling every situation with any player, any athlete, it’s just scary. We’re gonna get to a point where we’re not even…
