The Growing Mistrust About Doping Violations in Tennis

Players Criticise Difference in Treatment for Those Who Test Positive

- Shahid Judge

MUMBAI: There is an interesting coincidence in Jannik Sinner being pitted against Nicolas Jarry in the first round of the Australian Open. Both had tested positive for banned substances. Both were declared to have borne no significant fault or negligence.

But Sinner, the world No. 1 and defending champion at Melbourne Park, was allowed to compete without a ban while Jarry was handed an 11-month suspension.

The luck of the draw is such that it highlights the shadow of mistrust growing in tennis.

Sinner tested positive—twice—for clostebol in March, but had successfully appealed against the provisional suspension handed to him. Everything was kept under wraps. The Italian was allowed to compete on the tour while the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) conducted its investigation.

In that time, Sinner became world No. 1 and it was only in August, a day after he won the Cincinnati Masters, when the ITIA cleared him of wrongdoing. That was the first time the tennis world learnt that the 23-year-old had tested positive.

Last November, it was announced that Iga Swiatek had tested positive for trimetazidine in an out-of-competition test conducted in August—when she was still world No. 1. She was handed a one-month ban, serving 22 days in the September-October period, and the remaining eight days after she competed in the WTA Finals and Billie Jean King Cup Finals.

The treatment meted out to Sinner and Swiatek has been widely criticised by players who have accused tennis' governing bodies of favouritism.

"We've had plenty of players in the past and currently under suspension for not even testing positive to banned substances," said 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic during the Brisbane International last week. "We have some players who have been waiting for over a year for their case to be resolved, so the issue is the inconsistency and the transparency."