COURIER HAS SUSPICIONS ON DRUGS

MELBOURNE---Jim Courier said Tuesday after winning his first-round match at
the Australian Open that he believed the biggest drug problem in tennis was
not the sort of steroids that were found in Petr Korda's body but the use
of endurance-boosting substances like EPO, the substance that was at the
heart of the Tour de France scandal last July.

"I don't think strength is the answer in tennis," Courier said. "I mean,
it's a component for sure, but if brute strength were the answer we would
all be weightlifters in the locker room, which is not the case.

"Steroids definitely have a place in coming back from injuries. They
definitely increase your capacity to train. But l'm much more inclined to
have concern for something we cannot test for under the current system of
testing."

Courier added: "I can't name names, but I see a lot of guys playing a lot
of weeks in a row and jumping around fresh and crazy and knowing that it's
undetectable in our tests. I'd say there's too much money at stake for
people not to be taking advantage."

Courier said he found it particularly suspicious that players were able. to
keep playing week after week on clay.

"I hope it's not the case that these drugs are widespread," he said. "I
hope the guys are better athletes than I am and are able to push their
bodies on a week to week basis. But I know what I'm capable of and I know
what I push my body to do, and I just don't see a lot of it as humanly
possible. On clay, every match is a war, and they are playing every week
and winning, 6-2, 6-2, in two hours. How do you keep doing that and stay
fresh?''

There is now no reliable test for EPO, the artificial hormone that
increases the flow of oxygen to muscles, but skiers and cyclists now
undergo frequent blood testing before competition to determine their red
blood cell counts.

In cases where those counts exceed a pre-established level, they are not
allowed to race.

According to Todd Martin, the ATP Tour is considering using blood testing
as a complement but not a replacement for urinalysis.

But Martin and several other players distanced themselves from Courier's
speculative comments about the provalence of EPO and blood doping. which
involves the removal and reinjection of blood into an athlete.

"I have absolutely no knowledge of anyone blood doping whatsoever; and I'm
darned sure I'm not going to find myself sitting in a position where I
speculate on such an intense and serious matter," Andre Agassi said. "When
it comes to the health of tennis, we don't need guesses."

Thomas Muster, who like Agassi and Courier was once ranked No. 1, said: "I
think we are pretty much on the edge of destroying the sport by making
comments like that. If you don't have proof, you shouldn't say things like
this."