Wickmayer ban stuns Bali event

Bruce Emond ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Nusa Dua, Bali   |  Sat, 11/07/2009 1:02 PM  |  Headlines

The shock announcement Friday of a one-year suspension from play for Belgium's rising tennis star Yanina Wickmayer forced the third seed to withdraw from the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions, gifting Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm a surprise semifinal spot.

The Flemish Doping Tribunal handed Wickmayer the ban for failing to inform the agency of where she could be reached in the event of a drugs test, news agencies reported. Her compatriot, Xavier Malisse, also reportedly received a year-long suspension on doping regulation violations.

The verdict, which took effect immediately, was more severe than the warning sought by the prosecutor at the tribunal that began last month, reports said.

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Chairman and CEO Stacey Allaster said she met with Wickmayer, who turned 20 on Oct. 20, on Friday morning and the Belgian decided voluntarily to withdraw from the event.

"She was only 19 years old *when the tribunal started*, you can imagine how she feels, but Yani acted as professionally as she does on court," Allaster said at a media conference, adding that the women's tour would issue no official comment on the ban because the case was ongoing.

Allaster noted that the WTA Tour, along with the Association of Tennis Professionals, the governing body of the men's tour, the Grand Slams and the International Tennis Federation were signatories to the convention of the World Anti-Doping Agency. She said the Tour strives to ensure it is "fair and clean" for all players.

The Belgian has the right to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, she added.

Wickmayer, a surprise semifinalist at the US Open this year and the champion at Estoril and Linz, was a heavy favorite to reach the last four in the US$600,000 round-robin event. The world No. 18 beat Date-Krumm in straight sets on Wednesday, and was due to play Spain's Anabel Medina-Garrigues in the final match of Group C on Friday. The Japanese 39-year-old had defeated Medina-Garrigues on Thursday evening.

The Belgian argued she had trouble logging into the doping control agency's website due to an incorrect password, according to an Oct. 22 report by CBSSports.com.

News of Wickmayer's ban ignited a heated debate on tennis fan blogs and website. Many denounced the agency's requirements for players to inform it of their whereabouts as infeasible and the ruling as irrational. "Way to go to screw up a young player's career," one post read.

Others surmised the severe sanction could be related to Andre Agassi's recent revelations of getting away with using crystal meth during his career by lying to the sport's administrators.

Former men's doubles player Todd Woodbridge, who is a commentator in Bali, said doping regulations are a "necessary evil" in today's game, but noted that players' schedules make it almost impossible to predict where they will be at any given time.

"It's very hard to get hold of tennis players or keep track of their whereabouts," the Australian told The Jakarta Post. "They themselves don't know where they will be if they lose early in a tournament, whether they will be on a plane or playing another match somewhere."

In 2005, the Belgian anti-doping agency was at the center of another storm involving tennis after it announced that a player who took part in an exhibition in the country tested positive for steroids.

Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, who participated in the exhibition, threatened to sue the Belgian sports minister over the allegation.

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