PARIS, May 25 (AFP) - The tennis world has done its best to keep the lid on the issue - but one case just refuses to go away. The ugly spectre of doping has tended not to loom large over the sport - save for one or two notable exceptions. But one of those cases obstinately pushed its way back centre stage at the French Open and once again the rumblings can be heard in the background. The volcanic eruption has already spectacularly spewed over into a raft of other sports - cycling heading the list - while badminton and football have also had to accept the need to adopt strategies to surmount the problem. Tennis is far from being as white as the kit participants are required to wear at Wimbledon. Petr Korda's is the case currently in the spotlight. The Czech, who won the Australian Open title last year, indicated Monday he hoped to beat a drug ban slapped on him after traces of Nandrolone were found in his urine sample last year at Wimbledon. The Czech left-hander's future now lies in the hands of three judges who will soon hear his case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland. If the court upholds a one-year ban imposed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the 31-year-old veteran will retire. The case highlighted the difficulties surrounding such cases in that the ITF initially ruled a doping offence had been committed - but Korda avoided a ban when an appeals panel ruled he might not knowingly have taken the drug. The ITF then reversed its decision, slapping a one-year ban on him, only for Korda to appeal. The appeal was upheld but the ITF was later given the go-ahead to launch its own appeal to the Lausanne court for the ban to be reinstated. Korda said the very threat of a ban had damaged his love of the sport. "It's killed my game, it's killed my personality on the court. But it didn't kill me as a person," said the pencil-thin Czech. Korda's reinstatement pending the final judgment caused a storm with fellow players, former world number one Jim Courier at their head, deriding the farcical situation. Courier pointed the finger at Europe in particular, demanding it clean up its act and make clear where it stood after the Tour de France scandal sugested the use of performance-enhancing drugs was prevalent in European sport. Countering that view, ITF president Brian Tobin pointed to the fact that regular testing had turned up only a couple of cases. Yet strenuous denials from top officials also characterised the Tour de France fiasco - as a clear gulf emerged between the picture they painted and the facts. And adding fuel to the flames was the ATP Tour's own International Tennis magazine, where more than 50 players claimed to have taken the muscle-building compound Creatine. Even if the product is not on the list of banned substances and is freely on sale in many countries, the French ministry for sport last October issued a stark warning over the dangers it said surrounded its use. Before this year's Roland Garros started the president of the French Tennis Federation, Christian Bimes, saluted the "shining status of our tournament and its global status in the panoply of world sport." To ensure that deserved status remains untarnished by ugly issues such as drugs, Roland-Garros will during the next fortnight carry out 150 post-match doping controls - up from 100 last year. Tournament director Patrice Clerc even warned that if the situation warranted it, then police would turn up on the doorstep just as surely as they took command of the Tour de France drugs issue. In March, France drew up tight legislation on doping. The law, which reached the statute book on March 9, provides for random, stringent and regular testing and also provides for tough punishments for those who either supply drugs to athletes or who encourage them to take banned substances. Tennis could take a leaf out of badminton's book in cases such as Korda's. Earlier this month, the International Badminton Federation launched an intensified get-tough drugs policy to ensure badminton players do not escape punishment for drug use. Last year, the world men's doubles champion Sigit Budiarto tested positive in Singapore and was banned for 13 months and fined. Ten months ago, the cycling fraternity thought they, too, had firmly managed to seal Pandora's box. They were wrong. And until the Korda boil has been lanced, the situation for tennis remains in flux.  