
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, December 23, 1993                   TAG: 9312240093
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BECKER: MANY PRO TENNIS PLAYERS USE DRUGS

The tennis season is so long and grueling that many players need drugs to get through it, according to Boris Becker, who said authorities in the sport have been able to keep it quiet.

Becker made his allegation in the Christmas issue of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. "Why shouldn't there be doping in a sport where there is so much money?" Becker was quoted as saying.

Becker said it was "a joke" that no tennis player had been punished for drug abuse by the Association of Tennis Professionals.

The ATP says it conducts many drug tests and that no player had ever tested positive. Asked if he doubted that, Becker was quoted as saying:

"Yes. I am not saying it had to be anabolic steroids, but coke, speed or marijuana, for sure."

Boston defenseman Ray Bourque was the leading vote-getter for the NHL Eastern Conference All-Star team for the third time in his career and Philadelphia's Eric Lindros beat Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux for the starting center job.

by CNB