Toni Nadal makes ‘surprise’ confession and slams players ‘who are not very clean’
Toni Nadal has once again made it clear that he is “against” the ban that was handed to Jannik Sinner while he has also hit out at “some top players and some who are not very clean”.
Having twice tested positive for the banned substance clostebol last March, Sinner was initially cleared of any wrongdoing by the International Tennis Integrity Agency in August and was allowed to continue playing as it was deemed he bore “no fault or negligence”.
However, although the World Anti-Doping Angecy (WADA) accepted the explanation that he became contaminated while receiving a message from his physiotherapist who used a product containing clostebol, it appealed against that outcome as it believed Sinner should still have served some form of a ban and initially called for a suspension of between 12 months and 24 months.
Before the case was due to be heard by the Court of Arbitration in Sport, WADA and Sinner’s legal representatives reached an agreement that would see the three-time Grand Slam winner banned for three months.
Nadal, uncle and former coach of tennis great Rafael Nadal, has never hidden the fact that he feels Sinner “did not willingly commit a crime” and is disappointed with the ban.
“I have stated many times and I have explained it, I am against the sanction. I know Sinner personally and he had no will to commit a crime and you can’t treat a person like that for a mistake that happened by chance,” he told Marca.
“It cannot be that you have this will to control and sanction. You have to sanction the one who intentionally does things wrong and looking for his own benefit. And I know that this is not the case for Sinner. I know that he did not have any benefit with what they found. So why do you want to sanction.”
The three-month ban has been slammed by several players as they feel Sinner got off lightly.
Three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka stated “I don’t believe in a clean sport anymore” while Nick Kyrgios and former Wimbledon winner Marion Bartoli were also quite vocal about their outrage.
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All-time great Novak Djokovic also expressed his disappointment with the process as he said: “I spoke with several players in the locker room, not only in the last few days but also in the previous months.
“Most of them are not satisfied with how the whole process has gone, and they don’t think it’s fair.
“Many of them believe there was favouritism. It almost seems like you can influence the result if you are a top player, and if you have access to top lawyers and so on.
“Sinner and [women’s world No 2 Iga] Swiatek are innocent, it has been proven. Sinner will have a three-month suspension due to some mistakes and negligence of some members of his team, who are working on the tour. This is also something that I personally and many other players find strange.”
But Nadal had a parting shot for the critics, saying: “It is true that they say that others who are not No 1 were sanctioned, because they did it wrong before. I am surprised that different players have taken a stand against it, including some top players and some who are not very clean.”
