NEW YORK -- The ATP hopes to begin testing players for the banned endurance-enhancing substance EPO within weeks.

The player council met two days before the start of the U.S. Open and indicated it was in favor of EPO testing, ATP spokesman David Higdon said Saturday.

"All we need to do now is formalize the new rules,'' Higdon said.

The plan to test for EPO -- short for erythropoieten, which raises the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood -- was presented to the player council at Wimbledon.

During the U.S. Open, the ATP Board (three players' representatives and three tournament representatives) was shown new language for drug-testing rules. Board members wanted some of the wording clarified but "indicated they plan on approving,'' Higdon said.

The new rules would allow for testing blood, in addition to urine. The ATP is waiting to see whether the World Anti-Doping Agency determines whether urine-only testing is OK for EPO.

"Either way, we're prepared to be doing testing almost immediately after WADA rules,'' Higdon said.

The ATP now tests for recreational drugs and steroids.

In the past two years, Argentine players Juan Ignacio Chela and Guillermo Coria have tested positive for banned substances. Chela was suspended for three months, Coria for seven. Petr Korda, who won the 1998 Australian Open, tested positive for the steroid nandrolone at Wimbledon later that year. He was banned for a year.