In the past year, tennis has been grappling with two highly controversial doping investigations related to top players, such as Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner. The handling of the cases has sparked a lot of debate, with Novak Djokovic and other top players, saying that there is “favoritism” in the system. However, Sinner’s lawyer, Jamie Singer, has responded to the accusations of preference in recent statements.
“I think the players are always hawks when it’s another player involved and possibly doves when it’s them,” Singer told Sky News. “It is very unfair. He has been through the process from the very beginning by the book. And there’s no favouritism. It just so happens that these circumstances have been very unusual. He says he feels that he’s been treated quite harshly.”
He added: “The players have quite a platform, but they don’t necessarily have the opportunity to investigate and get into all the details that are out there. So they make their opinions known. But perhaps the facts do need a bit more investigation.”
Ahead of his defeat in the first round of the Qatar Open, Djokovic told journalists that the way these cases have been handled didn’t give a “good image” of tennis. “There’s a majority of the players that I’ve talked to in the locker room, not just in the last few days, but also in the last few months, who are not happy with the way this whole process has been handled,” he said.
Novak Djokovic (Getty Images)
“A majority of the players don’t feel that it’s fair. A majority of the players feel like there is favoritism happening. It appears that you can almost affect the outcome if you are a top player, if you have access to the top lawyers and whatnot,” he added.
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Why is Jannik Sinner only being banned for three months?
After initially serving a provisional suspension in secret, Sinner was cleared to continue competing last April by the International Tennis Integrity Agency. The agency accepted his explanation that Clostebol, a testosterone-derived substance, entered his system through a spray applied by his physiotherapist to treat a cut.
However, the World Anti-Doping Agency challenged the decision, arguing that Sinner should face a penalty. With a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) hearing approaching, his legal team negotiated a deal with the WADA to avoid what could have been a minimum one-year ban.
“He [Sinner] sees it from completely the other perspective that he had an independent tribunal that found there was no sanction to be applied,” Singer explained to Sky News, talking about how the deal came to be.
Jannik Sinner won the Australian Open (Getty Images)
“And yet why is he accepting three months later? So it took a little bit of time to persuade him that it was actually the right thing to do – to accept WADA’s offer rather than going all the way to a CAS case. He says he feels that he’s been treated quite harshly, but he accepts that everyone’s entitled to their own opinion,” the lawyer added.
Since testing positive, Sinner has won two more Grand Slam titles. As he will be out of competition for only three months, he is set to compete at the French Open. However, Sinner, who is currently World no. 1, is expected to lose 2100 points before his suspension comes to an end.
