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This issue has darkened the world of Tennis in 2024 and risks once again being at the heart of conversations at the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the campaign: the doping cases involving Jannik Sinner – who is not still not resolved — and Iga Swiatek.
Both players have spent most of the past year ranked No. 1 in the world, and Sinner will still sit atop the ATP world rankings when he takes to the court at Melbourne Park to begin his title defense, the one of the two he acquired in 2024.
Swiatek, the holder of five career Grand Slam titles and the player who has sat atop the WTA world rankings for most of the past three seasons, is now No. 2 in the world behind Aryna Sabalenka, who will seek a third consecutive title in Australia.
“Obviously, there may be criticism,” admitted the Pole. It’s impossible to avoid them.”
Most players prefer to remain silent when asked the question. Then, there are those who don’t hesitate to add their two cents, including the holder of 24 major career titles, Novak Djokovic. The Serbian notably questioned whether Sinner and Swiatek had received the same treatment as other players who found themselves in similar situations, and he still wonders why the files of the Italian and the Pole were kept secret for several months.
“I sit here and I ask myself: ‘Why is there such a big difference between the treatment and the judging?’, reacted the Romanian Simona Halep, winner of two major career titles, about the sanction imposed on Swiatek. I don’t find, and I don’t believe there can be, a logical answer.”
Halep was initially suspended for four years after testing positive for Roxadustat, a banned anti-anemia drug, during the 2022 U.S. Open. Her sentence was reduced to nine months following a protest, although she had been absent from the circuit for a longer period than that. She was due to take part in the tournament at Melbourne Park for the first time in three years, but had to withdraw from qualifying due to knee and shoulder pain.
Lately, no one has been more critical of doping than Nick Kyrgios, the 2022 Wimbledon finalist who missed almost all of the last two seasons due to various injuries. He recently began his career as a commentator, on different platforms, and did not hesitate to attack Cruz Hewitt, the 16-year-old son of Australian team captain Lleyton Hewitt at the Davis Cup, after he posted a photo showing him with Sinner after a training session.
“It was handled atrociously by our sport. Two world No. 1s, who were caught for doping, it’s horrible for our sport, said Kyrgios at the international tournament in Brisbane, the first he participated in following his return to the game. It’s horrible.
-So where are we with Sinner’s case?
The Italian was the most dominant tennis player last season, and there’s no sign that will change in 2025. In 2024, he’s 73-6 with eight titles, including the U.S. Open, and he led Italy to win the Davis Cup. He will enter the Australian Open with a series of 14 victories.
However, a dark cloud hangs over tennis: two positive doping tests revealing traces of anabolic steroids were obtained in March and were only publicly confirmed in August.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) determined that Sinner should not be suspended because his sample was accidentally contaminated with clostebol — the result of a massage performed by a sports therapist who used the substance after lacerating a finger.
The World Anti-Doping Agency was not convinced by the explanations and still believes a suspension of a year or two is reasonable.
On Friday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced that it was planning a closed-door hearing with Sinner on April 16 and 17 at its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Enough to affect Sinner’s preparation. At least, that’s what we thought.
“It’s on my mind,” admitted the Italian, adding that he was optimistic about the decision that will be taken in his case.
