Shadow cast over American doubles star

A shadow has been cast over therapeutic use exemption granted to the world No 1 doubles player Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

American doubles star Bethanie Mattek-Sands

A further shadow has been cast over a controversial therapeutic- use exemption granted to world No 1 doubles player Beth­anie Mattek-Sands after she repeatedly refused to answer questions about it at the Australian Open.

The 31-year-old American, who has won five grand slam doubles titles and a gold medal in the mixed doubles at the Rio Olympics, was part of a group of players including Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Petra Kvitova whose therapeutic-use exemptions were leaked by Fancy Bears, the Russian hacking collective, last year.

Mattek-Sands refused to give her reaction to the leak at a press conference after a mixed doubles match.

When she was pushed on the subject, her responses included, “I’m happy to talk about the match right now, how great my career is going right now”, “The Australian Open is doing a great job”, and, “Reaching No 1 last week was a pretty big milestone in my career, so I’m still kind of letting that soak in”. A moderator eventually stepped in and asked for questions on other topics.

Mattek-Sands’ TUE was notable because it was revealed that her applications to use the banned substance DHEA, which converts to testosterone in the bloodstream, to help treat adrenal insufficiency had been approved by the International Tennis Federation but then revoked by the World Anti-Doping Agency on two occasions, in July and September 2014, because of concerns about its performance-enhancing effects.

Both applications were supported by Eric Serrano, a family practice doctor based in Ohio, who said he had worked with “thousands of steroid-using athletes”.

Mattek-Sands appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who upheld WADA’s decision despite acknowledging that the player was probably “suffering from some legitimate medical affliction” and that her application had been made “without any nefarious intent”. A document presenting the findings of the independent tribunal showed that Mattek-Sands took DHEA for more than seven months between December 2013 and July 2014.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Mattek-Sands.

Her refusal to answer questions followed an exchange involving her husband, Justin Sands, and journalists in the press centre at Melbourne Park last week. When Mattek-Sands was approached, her husband stepped in and warned a New York Times reporter, who had previously written about Mattek-Sands’s TUE, to never ask him a question again. When The Times suggested to Sands that there was cause for the scrutiny, he replied: “No questions to be answered.”

The Times