London: World number one tennis player Novak Djokovic has slammed drug-cheat Lance Armstrong as disgrace to the world of sport, adding that the banned cyclist must suffer for his lies. Djokovic added the whole Armstrong doping scandal has made him lose faith in cycling, the Daily Mirror reports.
The Serb was on court beating Radek Stepanek 6-4 6-3 7-5 while the American cyclist`s Oprah Winfrey interview was aired in Australia. But the defending Australian Open champion then came into the Melbourne pressroom to insist Armstrong should suffer for his lies.
Djokovic said he thinks it`s a disgrace for the sport to have an athlete like Armstrong, because he not only cheated the sport, but also cheated so many people around the world with his career and with his life story. Djokovic further said the authorities should take all the titles away from Armstrong because it`s not fair towards any sportsman, any athlete and it’s just not the way to be successful.
Djokovic also added that he has now lost lot of faith in cycling since he used to watch all the big champions like Marco Pantani and Armstrong ply their trade in the game, and added there has been far too much controversy about the sport.
The Serbian champion said cyclists have such hard schedule that they train so much and try to not use any enhancing drugs for their competition, adding many top cyclists believed they couldn’t succeed without using any banned products.
ANI
First Published: Saturday, January 19, 2013, 12:00