“Mr Sinner will serve his period of ineligibility from 9 February 2025 to 11:59 pm on 4 May 2025,” – as soon as this thing went out, the tennis world turned into full chaos! Men’s world number one, Jannik Sinner accepted a three-month ban in a settlement with WADA on Saturday. With this ban, Sinner will now miss quite a few important tournaments in the next months, but he’ll be back before the 2025 French Open. This 3-month ban has drawn several reactions from the tennis world and guess what? Nick Kyrgios was recently spotted joining Stan Wawrinka to take a jibe at this decision.

If we take a look-back, in 2024 WADA filed a case at the CAS against Jannik Sinner, after he escaped a ban despite testing positive for a banned substance (Clostebol). They were seeking at least a one-year ban for Sinner at that time. However, later on, Jannik Sinner’s explanation of the contamination happening due to a massage from the trainer who used the prohibited substance to treat his own wounds was accepted. 

On Saturday, February 15, WADA released a statement where they mentioned that the tenure of the ban was fair as it had accepted Jannik Sinner’s explanation for the cause of the violation. The statement read, “WADA accepts the athlete’s explanation for the cause of the violation as outlined in the first instance decision. WADA accepts that Mr. Sinner did not intend to cheat and that his exposure to Clostebol did not provide any performance-enhancing benefit and took place without his knowledge as the result of negligence of members of his entourage.”

They also mentioned that the ITF and the ITIA, “both co-respondents to WADA’s CAS appeal, neither of which appealed the first-instance decision, accepted the case resolution agreement.” Now after hearing about this decision, Nick Kyrgios described it as a “Sad day for tennis. Fairness in tennis does not exist.” He also went on to add that he knows a lot of players who all are also feeling the same way. Previously, we saw Romanian star, Simona Halep highlighting what she felt was a “big difference in treatment and judgment.”

Last year, Halep even raised some serious question marks about the whole procedure by saying, “How is it possible that in identical cases happening around the same time, ITIA could have completely different approaches to my detriment?“ Now, the 3-time Grand Slam champion, Stan Wawrinka was also left fuming with the 3-month ban decision. Wawrinka tweeted, “I don’t believe in a clean sport anymore …” Then after seeing this tweet Nick Kyrgios highlighted Wawrinka’s comments by dropping a reaction saying, “You and me both.”

Nick Kyrgios keeps on taking a jibe at WADA’s decision in Jannik Sinner’s case, but are he and Wawrinka the only ones? Well, the former world number one Yevgeny Kafelnikov said, “I just don’t get it! If you are absolutely 100 percent sure of your innocence (as he was before with his lawyers), why you accepting a 3-month ban?? Makes no sense to me.” Even Daniil Medvedev took a subtle dig by saying, “I hope that from now on everyone can talk to WADA and if they tell you: ‘we found this, it’s 2 years’, you answer: ‘no, I want 1 month (laughs). I hope it’s a precedent. Otherwise, it would be strange.“

Tennis legend, Rennae Stubbs said that she’s glad it wasn’t more than 3 months but she didn’t forget to mention “what a freakin joke Wada is…” Having won the AO title just a few weeks back and then facing a ban straightaway, Tim Henman feels it’ll leave a “pretty sour taste for the sport.” What did Jannik Sinner say in his statement, though?

“I am responsible for my team” – Jannik Sinner 

As things stand as of now, we could see Jannik Sinner back in action yet again at the Italian Open which will get started from May 7. The French Open will start from May 25. So, the Italian Open will be a good preparatory camp ahead of the mega event! Speaking on this ban, the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation President Angelo Binaghi stated, that the ban will mark “the end of a nightmare” for Jannik Sinner. He believes the settlement “demonstrates Jannik’s innocence” and he also mentioned that the whole nation will welcome him back at the Italian Open.

What did Jannik Sinner mention in his statement, though? In his full statement, the Italian wrote, “This case had been hanging over me now for nearly a year and the process still had a long time to run with a decision maybe only at the end of the year. I have always accepted that I am responsible for my team and realize Wada’s strict rules are an important protection for the sport I love. On that basis, I have accepted Wada’s offer to resolve these proceedings on the basis of a three-month sanction.“

With this ban, Jannik Sinner is now all set to miss the Sunshine Double, Monte Carlo Masters, and even the Madrid Open. Is there a chance that Alexander Zverev, currently sitting in second place, could overtake him for the top spot? Well, as things stand, Jannik Sinner will lose a total of 1600 points from these tournaments. However, since he currently leads Zverev by 3695 points, his position could well remain intact until he gets back to action in May. Do you think Jannik Sinner can make a strong comeback and clinch another major title this season?