If Wayne Odesnik had not been American (born in Johannesburg), I would have probably known almost nothing about him. Odesnik is a lefty who likes to play on clay courts. One of his best results in 2009 was making the final of Houston where he played Lleyton Hewitt. Hewitt was on the mend trying to get his ranking up and decided he should play a challenger event and hope that he wouldn’t have to qualify for the Slams. He met Odesnik in the finals of that.
Odesnik’s coach was one Guillermo Canas. Canas recently announced his retirement. It seems Canas had an interesting history too. In 2005, Canas was banned for two years for allegedly doping. He fought the allegations and was eventually allowed to return on tour. He played his best at Indian Wells and Miami in 2007 where he beat Roger Federer twice, including stopping a streak of 41 consecutive matches. He reached the finals of Miami beating, guess who, Ivan Ljubicic in the semifinals, before losing to Novak Djokovic in the finals.
Andy Roddick has been the most vocal of those calling for Odesnik to be banned from the game. He says Odesnik is cheating. It would be interesting to see read how substances like HGH affect player performance especially in a skill game like tennis.
