Technicalities saved Korda

MELBOURNE, JAN 20: Timing is everything in sport. If Petr Korda had tested positive for steroids during the Australian Open Championships a year ago, he would have faced an automatic 12-month ban.

But because he tested positive at Wimbledon six months later, he escaped with a slap on the wrist which has allowed him to defend the title he won in Melbourne.

The reason, quite simply, was when Korda won his first Grand Slam title on February 1, 1998, the ITF8217;s rules stated that any player who tested positive for steroids would face a mandatory one-year ban.

But by the time the tennis circuit had moved to the All-England Club in South-West London in July, a clause had been inserted which gave players who test positive for drugs a chance to present a case for a more lenient sentence, providing they can demonstrate 8220;exceptional circumstances8221; as to why they returned a positive sample.