Djokovic: Players have lost faith in anti-doping system

DOHA — Novak Djokovic says a majority of tennis players have lost faith in the anti-doping authorities following Jannik Sinner's three-month ban, and there's a widespread feeling that "favoritism" is being shown to the sport's biggest stars.

The 24-time major winner called on the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Tennis Integrity Agency to overhaul their processes for dealing with doping cases, "because the system and the structure obviously don't work".

"Right now, there is a lack of trust, generally, from the tennis players, both male and female, toward WADA and ITIA and the whole process," Djokovic said at the Qatar Open.

Top-ranked Sinner reached a deal with WADA on Saturday to accept a ban that will have him back playing in time for the French Open in May without having to miss a single Grand Slam tournament. That came after the International Tennis Integrity Agency had decided not to suspend Sinner for what it judged was accidental contamination by a banned anabolic steroid last March.

The short ban for Sinner comes after five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek accepted a one-month suspension in November after testing positive for a banned substance that she said was accidentally consumed because of a contaminated non-prescription medication. Both bans are much shorter than those normally handed down to other tennis players and athletes in other sports in similar cases.

"It's not a good image for our sport, that's for sure," Djokovic, the men's former longtime No 1, said. "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 the last few months, that are not happy with the way this whole process (for Sinner) has been handled.

"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."

Sinner had been scheduled to play in Qatar before accepting the ban.

The handling of Sinner's case had already raised questions about double standards, and when the ban was announced, it was widely criticized by other players. The positive tests weren't publicly revealed until August, because Sinner successfully appealed against being provisionally banned from playing. He then won the US Open in September and the Australian Open in January.

Sinner's explanation for the positive test was that trace amounts of clostebol in his doping sample was the result of a massage from a trainer who used the substance after cutting his own finger, which WADA accepted.

Djokovic said he didn't question Sinner's and Swiatek's innocence, but said that he and other players are frustrated about the inconsistent handling of doping cases.

He pointed to the case of former women's No 1 Simona Halep — who was given a four-year ban by the ITIA in 2022 after a positive test before it was later reduced to nine months — and British player Tara Moore, who was suspended in May 2022 while an investigation lasted 18 months, before an independent tribunal determined that her positive test for a banned substance was caused by contaminated meat.

"Right now, it's a ripe time for us to really address the system, because the system and the structure obviously don't work," Djokovic said.

"So, I hope that, in the near future, the governing bodies of our tours and the tennis ecosystem are going to come together and try to find a more effective way to deal with these processes."

Agencies via Xinhua