Anyone for tennis?

Press, 29 August 1980, Page 24

Anyone for tennis?

Some of the world’s top tennis players are regularly resorting to drugtaking to improve performances and ease the pressures on the international circuit, the French No. 1 tennis player, Yannick Noah, alleged in a magazine interview published in Paris yesterday. Noah, who admits . to having taken hashish, claimed in the glossy French magazine, “Rock and Folk,” that drug-tak-ing among tennis players is a growing problem,

with hashish and cocaine the favourite stimulants. The French Davis Cup player, ranked in the world’s top 20, explained that the sport’s lack of dope-testing made it easy for players to benefit from drug-taking. “I have seen an increasing number .of guys 'high on dope playing at tournaments.” Noah accused Paraguay’s Victor Pecci the shock finalist in the 1979 French Open final — of being among a group of players who have . used

amphetamines or cocaine to improve their performance. He accuses Pecci of being among a group who “played brilliantly during one tournament and were never seen again.” For fine measure the 20-year-old Noah declared he had • made love to . a woman in the dressing room before a match and received 500 francs a month sponsorship money from the Adidas sportswear firm when he was just 14 years old.