Romanian Fed Cup captain Illie Nastase has unexpectedly accused Serena Williams of using steroids during an interview in his home country.
The former world No.1 made the claim without providing any evidence. Speaking with Romanian media, Nastase said that America would never experience a similar scandal to that of Russia due to their ‘business matters.’ In recent months Russian sport has been tainted by doping scandals. An independent report revealed widespread doping amongst the Russian athletics team, resulting in their expulsion from international competition. Then another report found samples of Russian athletes was tampered with during the 2014 Sochi winter Games in Russia.
Trying to justify his claim, Nastase then name Serena Williams as somebody who is apparently ‘pretty clear’ to have doped. His controversial comments come as Maria Sharapova nears the end of her 15-month suspension for failing a drugs test. The Russian hasn’t played a match since the 2016 Australian Open after testing positive for Meldonium.
“Russia’s image when it comes to sport suffered a lot because of doping, but it’s pretty clear in Serena’s case as well. Don’t you see how she looks like?” Digisport.ro quoted him as saying.
“No one controls the Americans when it comes to doping. If the truth came to light, all big tournaments would disappear, all sponsors would leave. You can’t even imagine.”
Throughout her entire career Williams has never failed a drugs test. In 2016 a group of Russian hackers called ‘Fancy Bears’ revealed that the American was previously allowed to consume a banned substance for medical reasons. Williams was one of a group of western athletes to have their medical files hacked into. Under the Therapy Usage Exemption rule, athletes are allowed to take otherwise prohibited substances if there is a medical reason to justify its consumption.
70-year-old Nastase has also spoken about Sharapova’s absence from the tour. Once again without proof, the 70-year-old has claimed that she experienced a ‘mild depression’ during her time away. He then later joked that she doesn’t get drunk easily because ‘she is Russian.’
“Sharapova does whatever she wants to in her private life, all of us do.” He said. “I think she also suffered a mild depression during her suspension.”
Nastase, who was added to the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991, is a two-time grand slam winner. During his career, he has won more than 100 ATP titles in both singles and doubles.
