Nadal shows doping at the top of tennis

Tennis is doping. As are all other sports.

A few years ago (2006) there was a huge bust on a PED supplier in Spain called Dr Fuentes, the so called Operation Puerto investigation.

Fuentes was linked to a number of high profile cyclists, and a police raid on his lab found hundreds of stored bags of blood and computer records of sales of performance enhancing drugs. The police confiscated the blood and files, which were reported at the time to implicate around 200 athletes.

In the end, about 50 cyclists were named, and no athletes from any other sports.

There were a handful of prosecutions, several riders retired rather than face the courts./ Fuentes himself was tried, convicted, and then released following an appeal. The evidence (blood bags) was destroyed by the courts, seemingly closing the door to further investigation.

Andy Murray called in the biggest cover up in sport.

One of the cyclists involved said he often saw pro footballers meeting with Dr. Fuente, but more damningly than that, Dr. Fuente himself said he was puzzled as to why all the focus was on cycling, when his client list included numerous footballers, track and field stars and tennis players.

So what does this have to do with Nadal?

Well, Fuentes had previously been Nadal’s doctor, earlier in his career.

Coincidence?

Maybe; I believe they both lived, worked and trained on the same Spanish island, so it could be. Maybe Fuentes was a paragon of virtue in the days he worked with Nadal, and only became a doping doctor later. Maybe.

But as there’d been rumours swirling around about Nadal since the start of his career, this news seemed like more evidence to support everyone’s suspicions.

The destruction of the evidence by the Spanish courts has fuelled further suspicion, not just of Nadal, but also Spanish football. Fuentes himself has said that if the full list is ever released, then some major trophies, including World cups and Euro championships, will be changing hands.

The suspicion is that the Spanish courts protected their footballers and Nadal and threw the cyclists under the bus.

Everyone assumes cyclists dope anyway, so why worry about a few more?