US Open Round 2 (Day 6)- with Game Fixtures

Oh I will be fine for Monday - Monday is a holiday here

But I would have to organize a ticket and I am not convinced night sessions are value for the money in the early rounds - you will typically get to see a superstar destroying some helpless nobody. Even if it were Federer, I am not sure I would stay.

As far as weather goes, thank you for your optimistic take on it. That is what I am telling myself too.

noleisthebest wrote:LS/Veejay/anyone else,

how does this cycling up and down go in doping? 
How long does a cycle last and how long does the break in between the two need to be?
And what is  a cycle anyway, do you take pills, injections, medicine, sorry for the amateurish question, but I just don't have a clue and watching Nadal now, I can see there will be no "surprise" losses like he always seem to have in Wimbledon these days, he is obviously full on in his "fitness" cycle, is it going to drop after USO or is it going to last, will he have time to repeat it for WTF if it "expires" ( whatever he is using, I am just assuming that the "stuff" wears out, hence the cycling DOWN term)?

I was only aware of a few athletes that I worked for that were taking steroids-- very primitive versions at the time... but my basica understanding is like most medicines-- if you take them continuously- the effects are diminished...  instead of 1 sleeping pill to go to sleep, eventually you need to take 4 to get the same reaction..   I believe the dopers have to end a cycle because towards the end the body is at it's limit to what it can take without bad side effects or permanent issues, and the returns are less and less. So they dope for 4-6 weeks,, then take the 4-6 weeks off-- the body regains some normalcy, then you start up again and the effects are substantial again.   In tennis-- the schedule is tailor made for this... they can cycle down during the time between the big tournaments, then ramp up and be at peak by the time they start up again...

Thanks Truffin, I wasn't aware of the reason for "cycling down" at all, I suppose different players would react differently, too, that makes it even more difficult to understand, no wonder they all need a doctor or a medical team these days, it's become you need money to make money vicious circle now,  depressing....

There seems to be even more stuff available, too, substance that somehow changes  blood composition and enables it to absorb and conduct more oxygen, really scary, can't be good for the body long term...

On paper, testers should be able to catch dopers easily....

noleisthebest wrote:Thanks Truffin, I wasn't aware of the reason for "cycling down" at all, I suppose different players would react differently, too, that makes it even more difficult to understand, no wonder they all need a doctor or a medical team these days, it's become you need money to make money vicious circle now,  depressing....

There seems to be even more stuff available, too, substance that somehow changes  blood composition and enables it to absorb and conduct more oxygen, really scary, can't be good for the body long term...

On paper, testers should be able to catch dopers easily....

on paper... but the reality is there are more doctors and money being thrown into discovering new ways to cheat the systems than there are trying to figure out ways to uncover the cheats...  Basically the dopers are always ahead of the testers...

not good for the body, but at the same time- the glory and riches it brings certain athletes who would not have been as great without it- they prob feel it was worth it... For the most part- since athletes stop a relatively young age- the body recovers, and the side effects that remain prob aren't that bad..   so they're bald and have diminished male organs :-)  the money and glory makes up for that in their minds...  they can buy hair plugs and the hottest woman in the world will still hang on their arm............. Sadly- it prob makes sense to dope given the benefits in what you can achieve.