'Showering is not an entitlement': Tennis anti-doping unit announces players must shower 'in full view' of officials

Tennis' leader in anti-doping and anti-corruption said players are not permitted to have a shower before a drug test.

The International Tennis Integrity Unit covers policy, sanctions, prohibition, and testing for doping in tennis, and it recently announced a change to its policy that had many fans asking questions.

The ITIA informed players on Friday that drug testing will be conducted immediately following matches and that if a player wishes to shower before the drug test, he or she will have to do so in front of a drug-testing official.

The new rule was shared by Tennis Channel reporter Jon Wertheim, who showed a snippet of a letter from the ITIA on his X page.

"On behalf of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), we are sharing important updates to the Tennis Anti-Doping Program," the letter stated, before introducing a subsection on "showering,"

"The ITIA and previously the ITF has worked hard to ensure that showers following matches can amount to a permissible delay to doping control, particularly when showering could have a detrimental effect on the health and wellbeing of a player."

The letter continued, "However, showering is not an entitlement, and it is for this reason that the ITIA kindly requests that when showering[,] players adhere to the requirement to stay in full view of the chaperone observing them at all times."

The letter added that if a player is not comfortable with being monitored while showering, the player should consider the idea of whether or not a shower is "necessary before providing a doping control sample. Failure to remain in full view of the chaperone will be taken extremely seriously by the ITIA."

After the seemingly bizarre wording of the policy received publicity, the ITIA reaffirmed its stance in a follow-up statement.

"We recognise that parts of the anti-doping testing process are uncomfortable," the group said. "However, as with all World Anti-Doping Agency-compliant sports — not just tennis — players who are notified for a test after a match are observed at all times by an anti-doping chaperone until the test is completed."

The group added, "This is a requirement of the World Anti-Doping Code."

While the policy sounded strange on its surface, it did have a certain level of logic behind it. As outlet Metro noted, soccer's governing body in the region, the Professional Footballers' Association, has a similar policy in place with an added explanation:

"It is important for the laboratory to analyse your first sample and by having a shower a player could urinate easily without anyone noticing."

The organization added, "Sports people have done this before in order to manipulate this seemingly insignificant procedure to avoid a positive result."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!