Murray admits to having doping suspicions

Andy Murray's wondered.

Speaking with the Daily Mail, Murray said the thought of his opponent doping has crossed his mind when he's been out on the court. The second-ranked player in the world has been one of the more vocal tennis players about drug use in tennis, and how the sport needs to do more about it, in the wake of Maria Sharapova's failed drug test for meldonium.

"I have played against players and thought, 'They won't go away' or 'They don't seem to be getting tired,'" Murray said. "Have I ever been suspicious of someone? Yeah. You hear things."

Murray added that he was tested for the third time this year at the Monte Carlo Masters, where he lost Saturday.

"It's harder to tell in our sport as people can make big improvements to a stroke or start serving better because they have made technical changes," he added. "If it's purely physical and you're watching someone playing six-hour matches over and over and showing no signs of being tired, you'd look at that."

Murray went even further, saying Sharapova's failed test and ban is good for the sport.

"When someone like Sharapova is banned, I see that as being a positive. If that stuff is happening and you don't hear about it, I have a big issue because it's like the sport is covering up for the big stars.

"I just don't think sport should be doing anything to try to protect their biggest stars or anyone who cheats," he added.

Tennis has been in the press for the wrong reasons of late, thanks to Sharapova and widespread match-fixing allegations.

"Whether it is with match-fixing or with doping," Murray concluded, "at the first sign of it looking like there's a problem, you have to make your best efforts to try to change that, rather than just saying, 'It's a one-off' or, 'This is very rare.' No, let's make sure this never happens again."