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Italian Sinner, who was facing a potential ban of two years after testing positive twice for traces of clostebol, accepted a three-month ban as WADA withdrew its appeal and came to an agreement with the player.
Jannik Sinner. (X)
World No.1 Jannik Sinner accepted a three-month ban over his partial responsibility for team mistakes which led to him twice testing positive for traces of clostebol in March last year. The Italian was facing a potential ban of two years after WADA appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against his exoneration by ITIA in August.
Jessica Pegula stated that the existing process isn’t one that is coherent and added that a system which isn’t totally transparent and clear is a broken one.
“I think my reaction is that, whether you think he did or you don’t, or whatever side you’re on, the process just seems to be completely not a process,” the American began.
“It seems to just be whatever decisions and factors they take into consideration, and they just make up their own ruling,” she added.
“I don’t really understand how that’s fair for players when there’s just so much inconsistency and you have no idea,” the Australian open winner said.
“If you’re clean or not, the process is completely broken,” she stated.
“I think it needs to be seriously looked at and considered. I feel like they have so much power to ruin someone’s career, as well. I think there needs to be something done about that because it just seems really unfair.”
“I don’t think any of the players trust the process at all right now. Zero. It’s just a horrible look for the sport,” he 30-year-old added.
Aryna Sabalenka voiced that she does not trust the system anymore. The Belarussian star also added that such inconsistencies weigh heavy on the minds of the players.
“You just start to be more careful. For example, before I wouldn’t care about leaving my glass of water and go to the bathroom in a restaurant. Now, I’m not going to drink from the same glass of water,” Sabalenka said.
“You just become a bit more aware of stuff and this thing gets to your head that, like, if someone used a cream on you and you test positive, they’re going to go for you and they’re not going to believe you or anything,” the World No.1 continued.
“You just become too scared of the system. I don’t see how I can trust the system,” the Belarussian added.
Australian maverick Nick Kyrgios also gave his impressions on the situation and opined that it was a devastating position for the sports to be in.
“Guilty or not? Sad day for tennis. Fairness in tennis does not exist,” Kyrgios posted on X.
Stan Wawrinka echoed the Australian’s opinions with a post that read, “I don’t believe in a clean sport anymore.”
Polish superstar Iga Swiatek, who also accepted a similar one-month ban last year over failed dope tests, stated that such situations are to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
“Every case is different. Every story is different, for sure,” Swiatek said.
“Because of Jannik’s or my situation, we are kind of even celebrities, besides playing tennis. Everybody thinks of it from a hundred different perspectives,” she stated.
“But I just try to stick to the facts and read the documents. I trust that the process at the end went fair. That’s the only thing I do because I try not to judge,” the Pole added.
