Where is Clare Booth Luce when we need her?

She said "no good deed goes unpunished," and 2004 U.S. Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova would probably be the first to agree. Belgian sports minister Claude Eerdekens, after teasing the WTA with information that one of four players had tested positive for a banned substance, announced yesterday that the positive sample belonged to Kuznetsova.

Kuznetsova tested positive for ephedrine, a common ingredient in cold medicine. But ephedrine is banned in competition only, and Kuznetsova was playing an exhibition match when she tested positive. She broke no rule. Obviously, she took the medicine so that she could go ahead with her commitment to do the exhibition event, but I guess she learned her lesson about going out of her way to keep commitments.

Eerdekens' behavior is reprehensible, and WTA CEO Larry Scott was quick to say so. Anti-doping procedures require confidentiality and a presumption of innocence. And in this case, it was clear that Kuznetsova had done no wrong. Why Eerdekens went after her this way is unknown. Making the announcement on the first day of the Australian Open was a blow to the entire WTA, but especially to Kuznetsova, who deserves an apology from the Belgian sports minister. And there needs to be an investigation of Eerdekens' motives.