Three days ago, WADA released a statement saying, “Mr Sinner will serve his period of ineligibility from 9 February 2025 to 11:59 pm on 4 May 2025.” This means Jannik Sinner will now miss the Sunshine Double, Monte Carlo Masters, and also the Madrid Open. He’ll be next seen in action at the Italian Open. However, this announcement about the World No. 1 has drawn strong reactions from the tennis world. The 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic hasn’t held back either. The Serb has highlighted the “strange” thing about the situation and has also spoken about the “lack of trust” of tennis players towards the tennis authorities.

If we take a look back, Sinner tested positive for the banned substance (Clostebol) twice during the Indian Wells Masters tournament in 2024. Although he escaped a ban at that time and was cleared by the ITIA, WADA later appealed against ITIA’s decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) and sought a ban of up to two years for Sinner. However, in a shocking turn of events, WADA has now accepted that Jannik Sinner “did not intend to cheat“, however, they announced that the Italian will still have to serve a ban for three months. 

Speaking about Jannik Sinner’s doping case back in October, Djokovic had said, “I think it’s quite obvious that we have a system that is not working well. There are way too many inconsistencies, way too many governing bodies involved and this whole case is not helping our sport at all.”

What has he said now after WADA has imposed a three-month ban on Sinner? Well, the Serb, like many other players, found it pretty “strange.” He also took reference from Simona Halep and Tara Moore cases, citing they had to serve a longer suspension for similar doping cases. Djokovic didn’t look too pleased with the system!

He added, “You know, right now it’s time for us to really address the system because the system and the structure obviously doesn’t work of anti-doping. It’s obvious, so I hope that in the next period of the near future, the governing bodies are going to come together of our Tours and the tennis ecosystem and try to find a more effective way to deal with these processes. We have to choose the inconsistency, something that frustrates all the players.“ 

While Djokovic vented out his frustration a little bit, he hasn’t been the only one to do so. The Aussie pro-Nick Kyrgios also expressed his displeasure after WADA’s announcement. “Sad day for tennis. Fairness in tennis doesn’t exist,” Kyrgios wrote. He even gave a nod to Stan Wawrinka who wrote on X, “I don’t believe in the clean sport anymore.”

Is there a lack of fairness in the whole system? We don’t know. However, in a recent press conference in Doha, Djokovic further added, “It’s like you’re going to treat every case individually or independently which is what’s happening, then there is no consistency, then there is no transparency and you know some cases are transparent, some are not.“

Djokovic thinks the biggest problem at the moment is a “lack of trust generally from the tennis players both male and female towards WADA and ITIA and the whole process.“

According to Nole, either all the cases must be kept transparent from the beginning or should be kept private until they’re resolved. He believes now it’s very important to open the discussion and do what’s best for the sport. Even Novak Djokovic-led PTPA slammed WADA recently on their verdict on Jannik Sinner. They released a statement highlighting the lack of transparency and credibility. What else did the other superstars from the tennis world say about Jannik Sinner’s ban?

Daniil Medvedev joins Novak Djokovic to take a subtle dig at WADA

In his recent interview, Novak Djokovic mentioned that he spoke to several players in the locker room in the last few months and most of the players weren’t satisfied with the way things were handled in Jannik Sinner’s doping case. He revealed that many of them even thought that there was a bit of “favoritism.”

Speaking on a similar line, Russian star, Daniil Medvedev also shared his thoughts. He said, “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.”

Not only Medvedev, but even Serena Williams’ former coach, Rennae Stubbs also said, “What a freakin joke Wada is…” Even former world number one, Yevgeny Kafelnikov couldn’t quite believe the ruling as he called WADA the ‘dirtiest organization.’

What did Jannik Sinner’s arch-rival, Carlos Alcaraz say about the Italian’s ban though? Well, with Sinner’s absence, Alcaraz will now be the top seed at the Qatar Open. Although he refrained from speaking much on the sanction, the Spaniard did make his intentions clear. He stated, “Whether Jannik plays or not, we try to do well in every tournament because number one is an objective.“

Although, Jannik Sinner’s number-one crown is not in real danger at the moment, still his absence will give a major boost to his rivals in the upcoming events. Do you think Sinner can make a strong comeback at the Italian Open later this year?