Sinner ban shows why the process is broken

The timeliness and bargaining power around the Italian's WADA settlement has invited questions

- Rutvick Mehta

MUMBAI: There's a palpable difference in the way the tennis community has reacted to two significant developments at either end of the Jannik Sinner doping saga.

Right at the start when the world No. 1's two positive tests in March last year were made public before the US Open, most of his colleagues – with the leading exception of the outspoken Nick Kyrgios – chose caution over criticism in walking a tightrope and backing the Italian's innocence.

Now, even as many continue to believe the notion that Sinner did not intentionally dope, the three-month suspension after a settlement with WADA has got them off the fence and firing away.

Voices to have spoken up range from Novak Djokovic to Alexander Zverev to Jessica Pegula to Stan Wawrinka, with terms tossed around going from "strange" to "weird" to "favoritism" to "completely broken".

Each of it could carry some merit because, irrespective of WADA's conclusion that the three-time Grand Slam champion "did not intend to cheat", there was a certain degree of timeliness and bargaining power around this episode which is almost unprecedented compared to other doping cases in tennis.