( CNN ) -- Rafael Nadal has called for stricter doping controls and more transparency to help eradicate drug cheating in tennis . Nadal wants to ensure tennis is not plagued by the doping problems which have affected so many other sports , notably cycling , following the Lance Armstrong saga . `` It 's something even I do n't like to talk about because it has damaged the image of sport , and sport does n't deserve this kind of thing in my opinion , '' the 11-time grand slam champion told CNN 's Open Court show before his weekend triumph at Indian Wells . `` When somebody like Armstrong was an idol for most of the people who loved sport , at the end , you see that was not true . `` It 's a big disappointment , so I think we need to work together in the same direction to change the situation . It can not continue like this . `` We need to be stricter on a few things . We need to have all the controls made public . '' Nadal , who made his return to action in February following a seven-month absence with a knee injury , said tennis needs an all-encompassing approach to drug testing in order to maintain the sport 's image . `` We have to work together , we have to be working together with the administrators and hopefully we can change that terrible situation , '' he said . `` We are lucky that in tennis , it has happened in just very exceptional cases but at the end , tennis is in sport , so if that happens in other sports , it affects tennis too . '' In recent months sport has been hit by several high-profile doping scandals . Cyclist Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles , while Australian sport was given a wake-up call after a government report alleged athletes were using illegal substances supplied by organized criminal groups . Cheating in sport : What are banned substances ? Football 's governing body FIFA has already stated its intention to introduce biological passports , while the outcome of the Operation Puerto trial in Spain into the relationship between sport and doctor Eufemiano Fuentes ' doping network is ongoing . Biological passport . The International Tennis Federation ( ITF ) recently confirmed that it will introduce a biological passport program , a system similar to the one used in cycling , where players ' drug test results are kept over a long period of time so that the use of illegal substances is more easily detected . `` The implementation of the athlete biological passport is an important step in the evolution of the tennis anti-doping program as it provides us with a great tool in the fight against doping in our sport , '' said ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti . In 2011 the ITF and the World Anti-Doping Agency conducted just 21 out-of-competition blood tests in a bid to detect illegal products such as human growth hormone ( HGH ) , EPO , transfusions and other blood-doping substances . According to the latest figures , the vast majority of tests in tennis in 2011 -- 2,019 of a total of 2,150 -- were urine . In February , the ITF banned Czech Republic player Barbora Zahlavova Strycova for six months after she tested positive for the stimulant sibutramine at a tournament in October . She insisted the drug had made it into her system through a supplement and denied taking it to enhance her performance . In 2010 , former top 100 player Wayne Odesnik , was suspended by the ITF after Australian customs officials found eight vials containing HGH in his luggage . He denied using HGH and never tested positive for it . His two-year ban was cut in half because the ITF said Odesnik cooperated with its anti-doping program . Earlier this month , 17-time grand slam champion Roger Federer told CNN that it was `` naÃ¯ve '' to think tennis is clean , while world No . 1 Novak Djokovic recently queried the declining number of blood tests he had undergone . `` I was n't tested with blood for the last six or seven months , '' he told reporters . `` It was more regularly in the last two , three years ago . I do n't know the reason why they stopped it . ''
Rafael Nadal wants stricter drug controls in tennis . Sport has been hit by several drug scandals in recent months . ITF has introduced a biological passport program to battle the problem . Czech tennis player banned for six months after positive test for sibutramine .