Serbian tennis player, Novak Djokovic, said the shortness and timing of Jannik Sinner’s ban this year for an inadvertent doping violation, would hang over the four-time Grand Slam champion like a cloud for the rest of his career.
Sinner served a three-month suspension following a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency in February, after authorities accepted the anabolic agent clostebol had entered his system inadvertently via massages from his then physiotherapist at Indian Wells in March 2024.
Djokovic said he did not believe Sinner had acted deliberately, but added the controversy over the perceived disparity between Sinner’s treatment and that of lesser-known athletes would linger around the Italian.
The Serb likened it to his own deportation from Australia in 2022 over his refusal to take a COVID-19 vaccine.
“That cloud will follow him just as the cloud of COVID will follow me, for the rest of his, or my career in this case,” Djokovic stated.
Djokovic raised questions about the handling of Sinner’s case after the 24-year-old was allowed to return to action in May without missing a Grand Slam.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency has remained firm that all its cases are dealt with based on facts and evidence and not a player’s name, nationality or ranking.
Reuters.