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.