The Sinner case

WADA: “A million kilometers away from doping”

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has responded to criticism of the Sinner ruling.

(Bild: APA/AFP/DAVID GRAY)

Following prominent criticism of the decision surrounding the Jannik Sinner doping case, including from Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) reacted with a rejection on Tuesday. "This case was a million miles away from doping," Ross Wenzel, head of legal affairs at WADA, told the BBC. "The scientific feedback we received was that this could not be a case of deliberate doping."

The fact that the ban therefore has hardly any effect on Sinner was met with incomprehension, as was the entire approach of the authorities. WADA spokesperson Wenzel cannot understand this. They did not have the tennis calendar in mind when making the decision, said Wenzel. If an agreement had been reached, it had to be implemented immediately.

From Djokovic's point of view, the majority of professional tennis players have lost confidence in the anti-doping system following the Sinner case. There is a feeling of preferential treatment, said the record Grand Slam winner in Doha. "A majority of players think it's not fair. A majority of players think that there is preferential treatment," said the Serb after Sinner's three-month ban. The world number one had tested positive in March 2024. Zverev had explained on Monday that either Sinner was blameless and therefore not to be punished, or the punishment was too short.

Jannik Sinner

(Bild: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The South Tyrolean had stated that the banned substance Clostebol had entered his body via the hands of a coach during a massage. The tennis agency responsible, the ITIA, saw no intentional fault or negligence and waived a ban. The World Anti-Doping Agency took action against this. Sinner is now not allowed to play any tournaments until May 4 - the ban will end in time for the French Open, which begins on May 25 in Paris.

"Not a good image for our sport"
 "It's not a good image for our sport, that's for sure. There are a majority of players I've spoken to in the locker room - not just in the past few days, but the past few months - who are not happy with how the whole process has been handled," Djokovic said. "Right now, there's basically a lack of trust from both male and female tennis pros towards WADA and the ITIA and the whole process."

There had also been accusations of a lack of transparency in the case of world number two Iga Swiatek. The Polish athlete was banned for a month last year after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine. The former number one explained this with a non-prescription medication against the effects of jet lag. The contamination of this medication had led to the positive test result.

Djokovic emphasized that he did not doubt the innocence of Sinner and Swiatek. However, he called on the sports institutions to revise the process for dealing with doping cases "because the system and the structures are obviously not working".