DOHA, Qatar — Novak Djokovic says a majority of tennis gamers have misplaced religion within the anti-doping authorities following Jannik Sinner’s three-month ban, and there is a widespread feeling that “favoritism” is being proven to the game’s greatest stars.
The 24-time main winner referred to as on the World Anti-Doping Company and the Worldwide Tennis Integrity Company to overtake their processes for coping with doping circumstances “as a result of the system and the construction clearly would not work.”
“Proper now there’s a lack of belief typically from the tennis gamers, each female and male, towards WADA and ITIA and the entire course of,” Djokovic mentioned on the Qatar Open.
Prime-ranked Sinner reached a take care of WADA on Saturday to just accept a ban that may have him again enjoying in time for the French Open in Could with out having to overlook a single Grand Slam match. That got here after the Worldwide Tennis Integrity Company determined to not droop Sinner for what it judged was unintended contamination by a banned anabolic steroid final March.
The brief ban for Sinner got here after five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek accepted a one-month suspension in November after testing constructive for a banned substance that she mentioned was by chance consumed due to a contaminated nonprescription treatment. Each bans are a lot shorter than what different athletes in tennis and in different sports activities have usually acquired in related circumstances.
“It is not picture for our sport, that is for positive,” Djokovic, the longtime No. 1 in males’s tennis, mentioned. “There is a majority of the gamers that I’ve talked to within the locker room, not simply in the previous few days, but additionally previous few months, that aren’t pleased with the best way this entire course of [for Sinner] has been dealt with.
“A majority of the gamers do not feel that it is honest. A majority of the gamers really feel like there’s favoritism occurring. It seems which you can nearly have an effect on the end result in case you are a prime participant, you probably have entry to the highest attorneys and whatnot.”
Sinner had been scheduled to play in Qatar earlier than accepting the ban.
The dealing with of Sinner’s case had already raised questions on double requirements, and when the ban was introduced it was broadly criticized by different gamers. The constructive assessments weren’t publicly revealed till August as a result of Sinner efficiently appealed in opposition to being provisionally banned from enjoying. He then gained the US Open in September and the Australian Open in January.
Sinner’s rationalization for the constructive check was that hint quantities of clostebol in his doping pattern had been attributable to a therapeutic massage from a coach who used the substance after chopping his personal finger, which WADA accepted.
Djokovic mentioned he did not query Sinner’s and Swiatek’s innocence however that he and different gamers are pissed off in regards to the inconsistent dealing with of doping circumstances.
He pointed to the circumstances of former ladies’s No. 1 Simona Halep — who was given a four-year ban by the ITIA in 2022 after a constructive check earlier than it was later lowered to 9 months — and British participant Tara Moore, who was suspended in Could 2022 whereas an investigation lasted 18 months earlier than an impartial tribunal decided that her constructive check for a banned substance was attributable to contaminated meat.
“Proper now it is a ripe time for us to actually handle the system, as a result of the system and the construction clearly would not work, it is apparent,” Djokovic mentioned. “So, I hope that within the … close to future that the governing our bodies are going to return collectively of our excursions and the tennis ecosystem and attempt to discover a simpler technique to take care of these processes.”
