Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 25, 1993 TAG: 9312250102
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-2 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"If I play lousy, there's a good chance 1994 could be my last year," Lendl said.
The 33-year-old who held the No. 1 ranking longer than anyone else - 270 weeks - is far from convinced that will happen, even though he is ending the year out of the top 10 for the first time since he was a teen-ager in 1979.
Lendl is 11th on the money-winning list and 19th in the ATP rankings.
"I don't think I belong out of the top 10 yet," he told The New York Times in a story appearing in Friday's editions.
In other tennis:
Boris Becker's allegations that some players on the ATP Tour are getting away with drug use is unfounded, tour officials said.
A published report in Frankfurt, Germany, quoted the three-time Wimbledon champion as saying that it was a "joke" that no tennis player had been punished for drug abuse by the ATP.
An ATP statement said that "to this day, no player has been confirmed positive for the use of any substance which would have resulted in a suspension."
"The ATP Tour has made a commitment to maintaining an anti-doping program second to none among amateur and professional sports bodies around the world," Mark Miles, chief executive of the ATP Tour, said Friday in the prepared statement. "We believe we have a clean slate."
The ATP said it tested at nine events this year, and overall, 431 tests were conducted, covering 231 players. The ATP said that 19 of the top 20 men's singles players were tested, 17 more than once, some more than three times.
by CNB