(ATR) International Tennis Federation president Francesco Ricci Bitti talks about the initiatives the governing body of tennis takes to protect clean sport on the fourth episode of WADA Talks.
Ricci Bitti tells WADA communications manager Ben Nichols having the best athletes in his sport supporting anti-doping efforts helps the clean sport message spread.
"This is very important when [Roger] Federer speaks out in favor of the program that we have. It’s helpful. The message is that we do this for them, for the players and not only the top players, all of the players in the world," Ricci Bitti says.
Ricci Bitti has served on the WADA foundation board since 2003 and has been active in the anti-doping community. He says the biggest issue with anti-doping is finding money to spend on protecting clean sport and spending that money wisely.
"I don’t think it’s the number of testing that makes the quality of a program very good. It’s the way we test. To be more effective, the money that we spend must be spent very well. We need more effective cooperation between WADA and the international federations. They should be more complimentary and work together," he says.
Ricci Bitti tells Nichols anti-doping doesn’t just protect clean sport, it also protects the athletes.
"The doping program has two basic aims: one is to preserve the integrity of the sport but the second one is the health [of players]," Bitti says.
The full interview with Ricci Bitti can be seen below:
Written by Kevin Nutley
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