Novak Djokovic addresses ‘favouritism’ in handling of Jannik Sinner’s doping ban: ‘Not a good image for our sport’
Novak Djokovic made a blunt admission on handling Jannik Sinner’s doping case and said that most tennis stars have lost faith in the anti-doping authorities. ATP ranked number 1 Sinner has been banned for three months for doping after testing positive for the anabolic agent clostebol last year. Sinner accepted the ban, which will have him back playing in time for the French Open in May, and he won’t miss any grand slam during his ban period. The three-month ban has not gone down well with many, and there’s a widespread feeling that “favouritism” is being shown to the sport’s biggest stars.
Right now there is a lack of trust generally from the tennis players, both male and female, toward WADA and ITIA and the whole process,” Djokovic said at the Qatar Open.The 24-time major winner said that he had a chat with many players in the locker room, and they are not happy with the handling of the case and have labelled it an unfair decision based on favouritism towards Sinner.“It’s not a good image for our sport, that’s for sure,” Djokovic, the long-time No. 1 in men’s tennis, said. “There’s a majority of the players that I’ve talked to in the locker room, not just in the last few days, but also last few months, that are not happy with the way this whole process (for Sinner) has been handled.
A majority of the players don’t feel that it’s fair. A majority of the players feel like there is favouritism happening. It appears that you can almost affect the outcome if you are a top player, if you have access to the top lawyers and whatnot.”
Djokovic points out inconsistencies between the casesDjokovic pointed out that the ITIA seemed to follow very different processes in doping cases involving Romanian Simona Halep and Briton Tara Moore.”There are so many inconsistencies between the cases,” he said.”We have seen on social media Simona Halep and Tara Moore and some other players that are maybe less known that have been struggling to resolve their cases for years, or have gotten the ban for years. We have to bear in mind that Sinner and Swiatek at the time were number ones in the world when we had those announcements happening,” he added.
