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After looking at the following table for the 2004 ATP drug testing,
http://www.atptennis.com/en/antidoping/stats.asp
it's amazing to see how they seem to focus on players from certain countries for testing. If people think that the Argentine players are being unfairly targeted, look at poor Spain.
The table shows that most players are tested by the ATP once or twice a year. A much smaller number get tested more than that. The most anyone was tested in 2004 was 5 times.
But here is where it gets interesting. What countries are the players from that get tested more than twice?
There were 11 countries that had only 1 player tested more than twice.
There were 5 countries that had only 2 players tested more than twice.
Then:
Switzerland had 3 players each tested 3 times.
Germany had 2 players tested 3 times and 2 players tested 4 times.
Italy had 4 players tested 3 times and 1 player tested 4 times.
Here it comes.......
Argentina had 7 players tested 3 times and 2 players tested 4 times.
Spain had 10 players tested 3 times, 3 players tested 4 times, and 3 players tested 5 times.
Looking at those numbers, statistics will tell you that we should expect to "catch" a lot more "cheaters" from Argentina and Spain than from anywhere else.
Is the ATP testing schedule supposed to be random or do they deliberately pick individuals for testing? Do Argentina and Spain have a valid case that they are being targetted?
There is another table that shows all testing (ATP, ITF, and Blood testing) both in and out of competition, for the top 50 players. I haven't gone through that one exhaustively but it does show other oddities such as the fact that while some (Roddick and Moya) are tested as many as 9 times, others (Dent) aren't tested at all. Here is the link for that
http://www.atptennis.com/en/common/TrackIt.asp?file=/en/antidoping/top50.pdf
http://www.atptennis.com/en/antidoping/stats.asp
it's amazing to see how they seem to focus on players from certain countries for testing. If people think that the Argentine players are being unfairly targeted, look at poor Spain.
The table shows that most players are tested by the ATP once or twice a year. A much smaller number get tested more than that. The most anyone was tested in 2004 was 5 times.
But here is where it gets interesting. What countries are the players from that get tested more than twice?
There were 11 countries that had only 1 player tested more than twice.
There were 5 countries that had only 2 players tested more than twice.
Then:
Switzerland had 3 players each tested 3 times.
Germany had 2 players tested 3 times and 2 players tested 4 times.
Italy had 4 players tested 3 times and 1 player tested 4 times.
Here it comes.......
Argentina had 7 players tested 3 times and 2 players tested 4 times.
Spain had 10 players tested 3 times, 3 players tested 4 times, and 3 players tested 5 times.
Looking at those numbers, statistics will tell you that we should expect to "catch" a lot more "cheaters" from Argentina and Spain than from anywhere else.
Is the ATP testing schedule supposed to be random or do they deliberately pick individuals for testing? Do Argentina and Spain have a valid case that they are being targetted?
There is another table that shows all testing (ATP, ITF, and Blood testing) both in and out of competition, for the top 50 players. I haven't gone through that one exhaustively but it does show other oddities such as the fact that while some (Roddick and Moya) are tested as many as 9 times, others (Dent) aren't tested at all. Here is the link for that
http://www.atptennis.com/en/common/TrackIt.asp?file=/en/antidoping/top50.pdf