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AUSTRALIAN OPEN


January 15, 2003


Geoff Pollard


MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

JOHN LINDSAY: We'll go ahead and give you a quick grab on the subject. There isn't a great deal in the article.

Q. What do you make of the article?

GEOFF POLLARD: This is speculation. It really is nothing more than speculation. Comes up every three or four months. I suppose it's come up now because this is the first tournament of the year, with the new drug rule where EPO will be tested, as well. That's probably behind it. But it's pure speculation. We do participate in the drug testing of the ITF, the ATP, WTA. It's combined drug testing. It's as good as any drug testing regime in the world. But the story is pure speculation. There is no evidence. We continue to support the full drug testing of the ATP, ITF, WTA, as well as the Australian Sports Drug Agency.

Q. (Inaudible) drug testers as drug takers?

GEOFF POLLARD: Look, I'm not an expert in the detail. Our major aim at Tennis Australia is to make sure we are a full and active participant in all the drug testing programs that apply within Australia and apply internationally. We do that. As I said, we are actually a leader because we'll be the first tournament in the world to have drug testing for EPO.

Q. Do you not believe any of the allegations that drug testing is wrong? It's from a prominent Australian player.

GEOFF POLLARD: I don't know why you call them strong. They have no evidence. I'm basically a scientist, a statistician; I work on evidence. There is a lot of drug testing taking place, but the evidence, I think I read, is in 10 years, there's no evidence. Not strong evidence; there's no evidence.

Q. Mark Woodforde said yesterday that he believes people would be naive to think that drugs were not only in tennis but in sport in general. Is that a fair comment?

GEOFF POLLARD: We conduct tests, Australia, but the ITF, ATP and WTA on behalf of the game of tennis conduct drug tests worldwide to ensure that the game is clean and that you know when you're playing the game of tennis, you're as clean as the opponent on the other side. Anything else is pure speculation.

Q. Is it disappointing that this article has been written? Is it disappointing that the players made this comment without the evidence?

GEOFF POLLARD: I believe people should make statements based on evidence. As I said, it doesn't surprise me it comes up. It comes up every six months. You just don't know when someone is going to make that sort of allegation. The testing takes place and there are no facts to substantiate the allegations.

JOHN LINDSAY: Last question. We're going round in circles.

Q. Will you be asking Andrew Ilie for a "Please explain"?

JOHN LINDSAY: I think with that we have to look at actually what was said without commenting. We don't know what he actually said.

Q. Will you be asking him to explain his position on drugs?

GEOFF POLLARD: I think what he said is that he has no evidence, but it's up to us to ensure that there is sufficient drug testing taking place, that he can be confident that there is no drug taking.

Q. Will you be talking to him then?

GEOFF POLLARD: I talk to all our players.

Q. About that issue?

GEOFF POLLARD: Because he said there's no evidence, I didn't hear the actual -- I didn't read the transcript of what he actually said. Whether it was a throw-away line that became a front-page article or whether it was something more serious than that in his view. I haven't asked John that particular question. My major aim is to ensure that we participate fully in the program. If there was any truth to his allegations, I can assure you, people would be caught in due course.

End of FastScripts….

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