One need only look at the reaction to Jack Draper’s controversial ‘double hit’ winner on match point in Cincinnati last week to see how tennis players love a social media row.
So when the much more serious news of world No1 Jannik Sinner’s double doping violation and subsequent exoneration broke on Tuesday it did not take long for the usual suspects to air their views.
Nick Kyrgios, who else, led the charge: ‘Ridiculous – whether it was accidental or planned. You get tested twice with a banned (steroid) substance… you should be gone for 2 years. Your performance was enhanced. Massage cream…. Yeah nice.’
Britain’s Liam Broady said: ‘Whether Sinner was doping or not. This is not right. Plenty of players go through the same thing and have to wait months or YEARS for their innocence to be declared. Not a good look.’
Japanese player Taro Daniel said: ‘This is clearly strange. Even if it was not intentional, the moment a player tests positive, they should be suspended for six months. The fact that there was no suspension, but this announcement came four months later, and they continued to compete in the tournament in the meantime, is all different from the previous protocols. Politics.’
News of Jannik Sinner’s double doping violation rocked the tennis world to its very core
Nick Kyrgios was one of many tennis pros who took umbrage with Sinner’s lack of punishment
Denis Shapovalov simply said: ‘Different rules for different players.’
The spectre at the feast here is Simona Halep, whose anti-doping case followed a very different trajectory. The former Wimbledon champion was provisionally suspended in October 2022 and almost one year later banned for four years. She appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and this March her ban was reduced. We are still awaiting the reasons for that ruling.
Compared to that tangled web, the Sinner case has been presented to us tied up neatly with a bow.
The fact which shocked many players and fans is that we were told nothing about the two failed tests until today, after Sinner had been exonerated. The reason is that players are granted anonymity if they successfully appeal the provisional ban, as Sinner did.
But why did Halep’s case take almost a year to resolve while Sinner’s was wrapped up within four months, just in time for the US Open?
Mail Sport put this question to the International Tennis Integrity Agency and we were told simply that Halep’s was a far more complex case, and so took longer to investigate.
The accusation from players, generally, is that Sinner received preferential treatment as a top player and poster boy for the sport. That is an easy narrative but it is instructive to refer to the case of Marco Bortolotti, an obscure Italian doubles player.
Simona Halep’s anti-doping case took significantly longer to be resolved than Sinner’s did
Mail Sport was told Halep’s case was more complex and needed more time to investigate
Some players have come out swinging and believe Sinner has received preferential treatment
In February of this year Bortolotti was charged with a doping violation for clostebol but after he provided an explanation of involuntary contamination, there was no provisional suspension, no announcement and one month later he was cleared – so here, at least, the world No 87 doubles player seems to have been treated no differently to the singles No 1.
What is clear is that tennis has a fight on its hands to convince players and fans that the Integrity Unit has lived up to its name. But once players are coming out and publicly accusing the authorities of bias in favour of higher-ranked stars, perhaps that battle has already been lost.
