Clean sport
All athletes have the right to compete in sport knowing that they, and their competitors, are clean. Tennis Scotland believes in clean sport and the principles of athletes being able to say, it is ‘100% me’. Tennis Scotland works in partnership with UK Anti-Doping (UKAD), sportscotland and the LTA to ensure the integrity of tennis is maintained and to protect the health and rights of all tennis players. The use of performance-enhancing drugs and other doping behaviour severely damages the legitimacy of sport and undermines the integrity of clean tennis players.
Tennis has in place a set of anti-doping rules that all players, coaches and athlete support personnel must abide by. The anti-doping rules for Tennis Scotland are consistent with the World Anti-Doping Code (WADA Code), which governs anti-doping internationally.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is a signatory to the WADA Code. The LTA is a member of the ITF. Tennis Scotland is an affiliate of the LTA. The LTA Tennis Anti-Doping Programme is adopted and implemented in accordance with the mandatory provisions of the WADA Code, of the ITF’'s own anti-doping rules, and the Rules of the LTA and the Disciplinary Code of the LTA, as part of the continuing efforts of the tennis authorities to keep doping out of the sport of tennis. Together, these form the Tennis Scotland anti-doping rules.
UK Anti-Doping Rules published by UK Anti-Doping (or its successor), as amended from time to time. Such rules shall take effect and be construed as the rules of Tennis Scotland.
You can find the UK Anti-Doping Rules here.
If you are involved in tennis at any level and in any form, these rules apply to you regardless of age, or whether you are competing, coaching or supporting players.
UKAD is responsible for ensuring sports bodies in the UK are compliant with the WADA Code through the implementation and management of the UK’s National Anti-Doping Policy.
100% me is UK Anti-Doping’s education programme for athletes – designed to provide information resources, education sessions and general advice to athletes throughout their sporting careers.
The 100% me values are:
Passion
Respect
Integrity
Determination
Enjoyment
Find out about 100% me in the dedicated Athlete Zone of the UKAD website.
Strict Liability is the underlying principle of anti-doping.
Strict liability means that a player is solely responsible for any banned substance they use, attempt to use, or is found in their system, regardless of how it got there or whether there was any intention to cheat.
An Anti-Doping Rule Violation can happen regardless of whether an athlete deliberately uses a prohibited substance or method, or unknowingly uses a product containing a prohibited substance. In anti-doping, not knowing is not an excuse!
Athletes should ensure that all their support staff, family and friends – in other words anyone who may have an influence over them or be in a position to give them something to ingest or use – understand their anti-doping responsibilities. All athlete support personnel should understand their potential influence on an athlete and encourage them to exhibit strong anti-doping principles.
Players should exercise particular care with medication and supplements.
There are 11 Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs). All 11 apply to players and seven (*) also apply to player support personnel and other persons.
- Presence
- Use or Attempted Use
- Evading, refusing or Failing to Submit to Sample Collection
- Whereabouts failures
- Possession*
- Administration*
- Tampering or attempted tampering*
- Trafficking or attempted trafficking*
- Complicity or Attempted Complicity*
- Prohibited Association*
- Acts by an Athlete or Other Person to Discourage or Retaliate Against Reporting to Authorities*
Committing an Anti-Doping Rule Violation leads to certain outcomes for an athlete, ASP or other person known as ‘Consequences’.
The table below indicates the ban (also referred to as the ‘period of Ineligibility’) which can be applied for each Anti-Doping Rule Violation.
| Anti-Doping Rule Violation | Sanction |
| Presence | Up to 4 years* |
| Use | Up to 4 years* |
| Evasion | Up to 4 years* |
| Wherabouts | Up to 2 Years* |
| Tampering or Attempted Tampering | Up to 4 years* |
| Possession | Up to 4 years* |
| Trafficking | 4 years up to a lifetime ban |
| Administering or Attempted Administration | 4 years up to a lifetime ban |
| Complicity or Attempted Complicity | 2 years up to a lifetime ban |
| Prohibited Association | Up to 2 years* |
| Acts to Discourage or Retaliate against Reporting to Authorities | 2 years up to a lifetime ban |
*These bans can be increased by a further two years when ‘Aggravating Circumstances’ apply. Athletes, ASP or other persons who commit a second ADRV will receive longer bans. Anyone who commits a third ADRV will receive a lifetime ban (unless specific criteria for a reduction are fulfilled). An ADRV for trafficking or administering prohibited substances to a minor is considered a particularly serious offence and could result in a lifetime ban from sport if committed by Athlete Support Personnel.
If you have any doping concerns or suspicions, however small they seem, please report them.
You can report a doping concern or suspicion on the UKAD website here.
The Prohibited List details all those substances and methods that are prohibited for use in sport. It is set by The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and is updated on the 1 January each year.
The list is divided into categories and identifies those substances that are prohibited all of the time (in-competition and out-of-competition), and those that are only prohibited during a competition (in-competition only). For tennis players in-competition it is usually from 00:01 of the day of their first match to 60 minutes after the player’s last match of that competition. The Prohibited List can be accessed via the WADA website.
Some medications contain prohibited substances. Before using any medication, whether prescribed by a GP, bought over the counter in a pharmacy or even straight from a supermarket shelf, it is vital that players check whether they contain prohibited substances.
The advice from UK Anti-Doping is to check every single substance or medication before you use it, even if you have used it before. It is also important to remember that medications bought abroad may contain different substances than those in the UK and you should always check before you take them.
To quickly and easily check the status of your medications purchased or prescribed in the UK, USA, Canada, Switzerland, Australia or Japan use GlobalDRO.
If your medication is prohibited and no legitimate alternative is available, you may require a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) to be compliant with the anti-doping regulations.
Tennis Scotland has a food first approach for players at all levels when advising on how to nutritionally support themselves for health and performance optimisation.
Food First, is relying on food as your source of nutrition, before considering supplements. This includes the following:
Players of all ages and standards will benefit from good hydration, a balanced tennis-orientated diet, well-organised training and a healthy lifestyle. Supplement use is discouraged for U18 players unless deemed necessary by medical or nutritional staff and is to be evaluated on an individual basis.
If considering using a supplement players should consider the effectiveness and quality of the product very carefully. A plethora of supplements exist with outlandish claims supported by weak evidence. Additionally, supplements can be subject to manufacturing contamination or have prohibited substances hidden on an ingredient list by using alternative names.
It is therefore crucial that any product used has undergone a quality assurance programme from a certified authority such as Informed Sport. Informed Sport is a risk management programme that tests sports supplements for The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) prohibited substances by analysing raw materials, manufacturing processes and batch testing end products.
There can however be NO guarantee that a supplement is free from prohibited substances. A strict liability ruling is associated to a positive test, regardless of intent. This means that each player is solely responsible for any prohibited substance found in their body regardless of how it got there and whether or not there was any intention to cheat. An anti-doping violation can result in a ban from sport of up to four years.
The TUE process is a means by which an athlete can apply for approval to use a prescribed prohibited substance or method for the treatment of a legitimate medical condition.
Athletes in the UKAD National TUE Pool are required to obtain a TUE in advance of starting treatment (unless there is an exceptional circumstance). Athletes who are not included within the National TUE Pool for their sport are required to submit a retroactive TUE application if they are selected for doping control. Retroactive TUE applications must be submitted to UKAD no later than five working days following sample collection.
Athletes outside of the National TUE Pool are advised to check with their doctor or prescribing physician that the criteria and medical evidence needed to support their TUE application can be met before using any prohibited substance or method. If an athlete tests positive for a prohibited substance and their retroactive TUE application is rejected, they may have committed an ADRV.
Which athletes are considered within the National TUE Pool is dependent on an athlete’s competition level. This differs for every sport. To find out whether they are included within the National TUE Pool and when they should apply for a TUE, athletes can visit the UKAD TUE Wizard for guidance.
Further information for athletes or athlete support personnel on how to submit a TUE application can be found on the UKAD website here.
International level athletes, as defined by their International Federation (IF), should visit the ITF website here for information on how to apply for a TUE.
UK Anti-Doping and the ITF conduct drug testing both in competition (post-match) and out of competition (at training sessions and at players' homes or accommodation). Players can be selected at any time for a drug test on either a random or a targeted basis.
Players are tested for the prohibited substances contained within Anti-Doping Regulations via the collection of blood and urine samples. All tests are collected by Doping Control Officers (DCO) and Chaperones, who are accredited to World Anti-Doping Code (WADC) standards, and samples are analysed at World WADA-accredited laboratories.
A short video on the testing process is available here.
100% me Elite Athlete Clean Sport App for Smartphones
For essential anti-doping information download the Clean Sport App from iTunes, Google Play or Windows Live Store– the sport specific or the generic version.
Check Your Medications on Global DRO
Remember to check all medications on Global DRO, where you can search by ingredients or brand name.
Assess the Risk of Supplements on Informed Sport
You can find information on supplements and ways of reducing the risks on Informed Sport.
For More Information from UKAD:
- Visit ukad.org.uk/athletes/100-me If you’re an athlete
- Visit ukad.org.uk/coaches If you’re a coach
- Visit ukad.org.uk/support-personnel If you’re Athlete Support Personnel
- Visit ukad.org.uk/parents If you’re a parent
Tennis Scotland
Telephone: +44 (0)1786 641 716
Email: info@tennisscotland.org
LTA
Telephone: +44 (0)208 487 7000
Email: anti-doping@lta.org.uk
UK Anti-Doping
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7842 3450
Email: ukad@ukad.org.uk
Website: www.ukad.org.uk
Reporting Doping
Telephone: 08000 32 23 32
Website: Protect your sport
or submit a form: submit information to UK Anti-Doping via a secure online form.