Novak Djokovic opened up about the recent doping case of Jannik Sinner and how doping agencies lost credentials following the case's settlement.
As reported by Associated Press, the Serbian player shared during Qatar Open on Monday, February 17, that most of the tennis players are not satisfied with anti-doping authorities following the three-month ban on Sinner.
Along with that, there is a widespread speculation among tennis players of "favoritism," that is being shown to the sport's big names.
The 24-time Grand Slam winner called on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) to fix their processes for dealing with doping cases "because the system and the structure obviously doesn’t work."
Djokovic added, "Right now there is a lack of trust generally from the tennis players, both male and female, towards WADA and ITIA and the whole process."
Sinner, the three-time Grand Slam champion struck a deal with WADA on Saturday, February 15, accepting a ban that will allow him to play in French Open in May without having to miss a single Grand Slam tournament.
This decision came after the ITIA chose not to suspend the Italian tennis star for what, as per their judgement was accidental contamination by a banned anabolic steroid in March, 2024.
The short ban for Sinner came after five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek got only a month suspension in November after testing positive for a banned substance that according to her was accidentally consumed because of a contaminated nonprescription medication.
Both bans were much shorter than what other athletes in tennis experience in similar cases.
The double standards by the agencies raised questions from number of players and tennis fans around the world.
Djokovic said he had no doubts about Sinner’s and Swiatek’s innocence but him and other players were left quite frustrated about the inconsistency in the handling of doping cases.
Notably, Novak Diokovic is playing in Qatar Open, which is scheduled from February 17 to February 22, 2025,
