MELBOURNE U.S. Open champion Pat Rafter said drug testing of tennis players was a pointless operation unless officials took action against those found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs. Rafter's comments published in Melbourne's Herald-Sun newspaper on Monday follow a British High Court ruling blocking the International Tennis Federation (ITF) from attempting to have Petr Korda suspended following a positive dope test at Wimbledon. I don't care how good a bloke you are.

There's no reason why you should get away. I don't care who you are, Rafter said on Sunday after winning the Australian Open doubles title with Swede Jonas Bjorkman. I went and did a drugs test and I said `This is a bloody pointless operation' I just thought it was a pointless operation, you know, sad, Rafter said. Bjorkman was also disappointed at Korda's treatment.

It's sad for tennis because that makes guys think that you've got a chance to get away with cheating, Bjorkman said at the post-match press conference on Sunday. I have nothing against Korda. What I've been frustrated by is the situation. We need to be tough on those things when it happens because that's the only chance to get... Drugs out of sport, interrupted Rafter. The ITF on Saturday said it was considering appealing against the British court decision stopping it from trying to ban Korda after he tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone at last year's Wimbledon. But ITF Communications Manager Alun James also said the federation might consider dropping the matter because of the damage it was doing to the game.

The ITF sought the court's intervention after an ITF committee investigating the Korda drugs case took a lenient line and did not suspend Korda but merely took away his ranking points and prize money earned at Wimbledon. Korda has said he was not aware he had taken the drug. But the ITF's lenient ruling angered fellow players and many of them gave Korda the cold shoulder as he sought to defend his title at the Australian Open last week.

(Reuter)