One of the biggest concerns of sport’s fans as well as the authorities that look to control the likes of football, tennis and rugby is the possibility of doping. As a result, there are countless different systems put in place for all sports to try to ensure that the players are as clean as it is possible for them to be.
Sometimes, though, the problem isn’t with the players doping so much as it is with the system that is there to make sure that they don’t. That is the position that tennis seems to have found itself in lately, as shown in the case of two of its biggest stars.
Is anyone else losing interest in tennis due to the corruption and favoritism being shown to Jannik Sinner?
I find myself no longer watching any tennis unless Novak Djokovic is playing. pic.twitter.com/MRUGwmVksa
— Danny 🐊 (@DjokovicFan_) February 23, 2025
Part of the problem in terms of the sport’s image is that there doesn’t seem to be much of a link between how the different sports treat people who are found to have taken a banned substance.
Kamila Valieva, a Russian figure skater, was given a four-year ban from her sport for taking a substance called trimetazidine, whilst the tennis player Iga Swiatek was found to have the same substance in her system and yet was only banned for one-month. Tennis has also seen similar discrepancies within its own sport, so what is going on with it?
The Jannik Sinner Case
In the March of 2024, Jannik Sinner was found to have tested positive for the banned substance known as clostebol. The anabolic steroid was found to be in his system over two tests during Indian Wells, resulting in a provisional suspension being put in place on him before the player challenged it.
An independent tribunal carried out by the International Tennis Integrity Agency found that the Italian had ‘inadvertently’ got the substance into his system, upholding his appeal and essentially getting the ban overturned in August 2024.
It was a decision that was appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, who wanted the world number one to face a ban of between one and two years.
In the end, an agreement was reached between Sinner and the WDA, resulting in him having a three-month ban that would be over in time for him to return to tennis prior to the start of the next Grand Slam event, the French Open. During the time of the appeal, Sinner won his second Australian Open title. It is a situation that has left a ‘bad taste in the mouth’ of many in the sport.
What Happened to Iga Swiatek
In August of 2024, former women’s world number one Iga Swiatek tested positive for a substance called trimetazidine, saying that she had taken some medication to help her sleep that had been contaminated with ‘TMZ’. The ITIA agreed with her claim, giving her a one-month suspended sentence.
Whilst both her and Sinner have always protested their innocence, the fact that they received what were considered to be ‘light’ punishments has left many other players feeling confused. There is a fear with some that they may not receive such a ’slap on the wrist’.
Iga Swiatek tells Polish TV she spent about $86,000 US right off the bat to defend her drug case. She admits that’s a luxury others don’t have.
(Via Tennis 365)— Amy Lundy (@amylundy.bsky.social) 8 December 2024 at 12:37
Simona Halep, for example, was handed an 18-month bad when she tested positive for a banned substance that she also claimed had been contaminated at the supply end. Considering what happened to Swiatek, she said, “I sit and wonder, ‘Why such a big difference in treatment and judgement?’ I can’t find, and I don’t think there can be, a logical answer”.
Some believe that players at the top of the sport are receiving more lenient punishments than those lower down the pecking order because they lack the same access to money and lawyers.
The System Needs an ‘Overhaul’
Speaking prior to taking part in the Qatar Open in the February of 2025, Novak Djokovic suggested that their was clear favouritism in place towards high-profile players. He declared, “It’s not a good image for our sport, that’s for sure”.
He also said that he had spoken to other players ‘in the locker room’ and got the impression that everyone felt that the process had been handled badly by the tennis authorities. “The majority of the players don’t feel like it’s fair…feel like there is favouritism happening”.
@skysportsnews Tim Henman reacts to Jannik Sinner accepting an immediate three-month ban from tennis after reaching a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) over his two positive drug tests last year. #skysportsnews #tennis #janniksinner ♬ original sound – Sky Sports News
The result was that the former world number one believes that the sport’s anti-doping system needs to be given a complete overhaul. He said, “We’ve seen on social media, Simona Halep and Tara Moore and some other players that are maybe less known, that have been struggling to resolve their cases for years or have gotten the ban for years.
I think right now it’s a ripe time for us to really address the system, because the system and the structure obviously doesn’t work with anti-doping. It’s obvious”.
