‘Innocent’ Jannik Sinner’s suspension slammed by former ATP Tour star
Former doubles Grand Slam champion and ATP Tour star Patrick McEnroe has defended Jannik Sinner amid the world No 1’s suspension.
Sinner is serving a three-month suspension after settling his longstanding doping case with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in February 2024.
The Italian twice tested positive for the banned steroid clostebol in March 2024, with news of the violation announced by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) in August 2024.
Sinner was able to successfully appeal against a provisional suspension for both violations, and the ITIA ruled him to have been of “no fault or negligence”, allowing him to compete with no ban.
The world No 1 successfully argued that a team member had accidentally contaminated him, though WADA announced an appeal into the severity of his sanction in September 2024.
WADA’s appeal was set to be heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in April 2025, with the possibility of a two-year suspension for Sinner should CAS have ruled in WADA’s favour.
However, it was announced in February that the respective parties had come to a settlement and agreed on a three-month ban.
Sinner has been suspended since early February, and his suspension is set to end on May 4, 2025, with a return expected at the Italian Open later that week.
The three-time Grand Slam champion’s case has proven a divisive issue within the sport.
However, speaking to Tennis, former doubles world No 3 and former US Davis Cup captain McEnroe – also the International Tennis Hall of Fame president – offered a staunch defence of the “innocent” star.
“I don’t think he should have been suspended,” said McEnroe. “They went through the process exactly as it was meant to go.
“I’m not saying it isn’t possible that players have figured out how to beat the system. But if you go by what we know, and what the proper protocols were, he was innocent.
“The argument that other players were treated badly, and therefore we should treat him badly, is absurd.”
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Sinner has so far missed two Masters 1000 events, in Indian Wells and Miami, and will also be suspended for the Monte Carlo Masters, which starts on Sunday.
The Italian will also be suspended for the Madrid Open, which ends just as his suspension finishes in early May.
Despite not having played since his Australian Open triumph in early January, Sinner remains in first place in the ATP Race to Turin, and still has a sizable lead as the world No 1.
His time away from the game has been defined by two months of inconsistency on the ATP Tour, with closest rivals such as Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz unable to take advantage.
