Jannik Sinner doping saga a ‘terrible situation’ as ‘unfair’ process comes under fire from former world No 1

Shahida Jacobs 22 Aug 2024 7:54 AM

Mats Wilander on the Jannik Sinner doping saga

Mats Wilander has shared his thoughts on the Jannik Sinner saga

There is no doubt that Jannik Sinner’s failed drug test “was a complete accident”, but the anti-doping process has been described as “terrible” by Mats Wilander.

A storm erupted in tennis on Tuesday when the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced that world No 1 Sinner twice tested positive for the banned substance clostebol in March.

He was provisionally suspended for a couple of days on both occasions, but the bans were lifted following urgent appeals. The Italian was cleared of any wrongdoing as the steroid entered his system accidentally when his physiotherapist used a contaminated product to treat a cut.

Sinner, though, was stripped of the 400 ranking points and prize money that he earned at the Indian Wells Open and former world No 1 Wilander is “convinced, 100%, that this was a complete accident by Jannik and his team. Of course”.

But the Swede has a lot of questions over the process that was followed to clear the Italian as several other players were banned for months – some even years – after they failed doping tests only to be cleared later.

Several current and former players have raised questions as they believe Sinner received preferential treatment.

“The process is obviously terrible, because if you can test for something and get a result that is so small, I mean, a billionth of a gram, I mean, there’s literally nothing,” Wilander told Eurosport.

“But if you can be that good at testing, surely you have to be that good when it comes to the process, because not only would you destroy a player’s career, but you could destroy the country in terms of bringing up tennis players. And Italy is doing great. So that’s why we’re lucky that Jannik has been able to keep playing.

“The professionalism is not good in terms of the doping organisations. They have to get it right. And it’s unfair. And obviously, it’s nothing to do with Jannik, but it’s unfair to all the other players that have got caught and then have been cleared. That it was a result of a positive test, but they never did anything, and that’s been proven in so many cases.

“So you understand when some players come out and sort of say, ‘yeah, sure, sure, he didn’t do it, or whatever’, but I think that we know that Jannik Sinner is one of the most fair tennis players that we’ve ever seen.”

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The final Grand Slam of the year, the US Open, gets underway on Monday, but Sinner’s doping case is dominating headlines and Wilander feels it is not a good look for the sport.

The seven-time Grand Slam winner continued: “We are talking about it now just a couple of days before the US Open, which is a huge tournament in our men’s game right now, straight after the Olympics. Can Novak Djokovic win his next major?

“And we’re talking about Jannik Sinner and his doctor and the process. So, for me, it’s a terrible situation. I’m glad that Jannik is allowed to play, but the process is terrible.”