Jannik Sinner’s doping saga has been the talk of the town in the tennis world for quite some time now! This season has been a mix of good and bad for Sinner. Talking about his performances, this was perhaps the best season in her career so far. He won multiple titles, including two Grand Slam triumphs. However, off-the-court it has been a bit sour for him! Recently, the Italian superstar opened up on the agony that he had to go through after he failed the doping tests. He revealed, “If I had known that it was my fault, I would not have played like that.” After hearing this, several Novak Djokovic fans came out in numbers to take a jibe at the world number one.

In we take a look at the timeline of the events surrounding Jannik Sinner’s doping saga. In August this year, ITIA announced that Sinner wouldn’t receive a ban for failing two anti-doping tests in March during and after the Indian Wells Masters. He was tested positive for Clostebol, a banned anabolic steroid. Although the tribunal accepted Jannik Sinner’s explanation that the substance had entered his body when he was receiving a massage from his former physio, WADA later appealed to CAS, seeking to impose a ban of up to two years. That appeal now ensures that this controversial story will continue till 2025 until the final verdict comes to pass.

Recently, during an interview with Sky Sport Uno in Italy, Jannik Sinner reflected a bit on all the things he went through during this phase. “There are many things that happened in this period that I tried to put aside and understand what is the right thing to do at that moment. And to me, I’m talking about myself now, I have to thank my team that was close to me the whole time because I needed it. For example, Darren didn’t go home to Australia and came to me. He was with me, my dad came. Thanks to them I felt safe. Protected.” He cited that this is one reason why he always dedicates his wins to these people who are very close to him.

He further added, “I’m happy with how I handled it because it was very difficult. But the moment I go on the court and put on my cap, for me only the tennis ball exists. On the court, I feel safe. Then we saw that it is difficult to play like that, but that is another matter. But I feel safe. When I see the ball and I am about to serve, all my focus and desire is to hit the ball on the court. Because in the end, it is my job and my passion. The problem and the work had to be separated.” Despite these hurdles off-the-court, the 23-year-old has managed to put up a staggering win-loss record of 66-7 this season.

How did he manage to do this amid all these things? Well, Sinner said that he has always tried to feel good on the court and has never missed training. He claimed that he prepared himself mentally to play tennis well and apart from that he also added, “This is the most important thing, if I had known that it was my fault, in my opinion, I would not have played like that.“

However, Nole fans seemed quite displeased with these statements. They recently came out in numbers to vent their anger at the Italian star.

Jannik Sinner accrues hate from Novak Djokovic fans

We’ve heard players like Nick Kyrgios constantly raising their voices and calling it “ridiculous” to see the Italian being allowed to be on the court ever after failing two doping tests. Then we saw Jannik Sinner coming up with multiple versions of explanations, trying to prove his innocence over the whole incident. After hearing about WADA’s appeal to CAS, we heard him say, “I am disappointed to hear that WADA has chosen to appeal the result of my ITIA hearing after the independent judges had exonerated me and deemed me to be innocent.” Clearly, he wasn’t too pleased with the way things unfolded yet again in the scene after a brief period of silence.

Now, after hearing Sinner’s recent statement, Novak Djokovic fans seem quite displeased with the way the Italian has conducted himself. A fan tweeted, “Well, that’s a new line of defense. ‘Look how well I am performing. I wouldn’t have been able to do it if I had something wrong, therefore I didn’t do anything wrong’ No burden of proof. Politicians will love it.“

After this controversial incident, we heard Novak Djokovic say, taking a jibe at the system more than anything else. He said, “I think it’s quite obvious that we have a system that is not working well. I think he has won the three appeals so far that he had, and it must be very tough for him and his team and family. Hopefully, we can go back to tennis.” According to Djokovic, these are “not a good sign” for tennis!

However, one of his biggest fans on social media, Pavvy G came with a series of tweets after hearing Jannik Sinner‘s recent statements. In the first tweet, he claimed, “The CAS hearing can’t come quick enough, this is just PR at this point. I believe he’s been told not to admit any guilt or fault whatsoever.” He didn’t look too pleased with Sinner being allowed to play, even after two failed tests. Then in the second tweet, he added, “When you get the level of protection and promotion from the establishment that Jannik Sinner has, it’s easy to think that you are invincible so I do understand when Sinner says the drug case hasn’t impacted his game. But the establishment doesn’t own everyone and everything.“

During this period, several accusations of Jannik Sinner getting ‘special treatment’ for being the world number one sprung up. One fan highlighted an incident from 2020 when Nicolas Jarry received an 11-month doping ban from the ITF. The fan tweeted, “Fortunately for him, he had the chance to continue playing. Others like Jarry could not, despite not being his fault neither. That is the point. Different rules for different players.“

Recently, we saw Jimmy Connors say, “I genuinely believe that the entire circuit wouldn’t survive the ramifications of disqualifying a player of such high caliber.” However, some fans still claim, “We can all justify our wrongdoings in our minds if we choose to. He has psyched himself into believing that his doping wasn’t intentional when everything is telling us that it was. He needs to be punished for breaking the doping rules, end of story!“

Previously we heard Andy Roddick giving an explanation about how Jannik Sinner’s quick detection about the actual source of the problem helped him gain some grace. Nevertheless, some fans have pertinent questions running in their minds. “How is he innocent if he failed two doping tests??? Not even just one,” wrote a few. Share your thoughts on Jannik Sinner’s recent statements surrounding the doping saga.