Andy Roddick gets the nod from John McEnroe while speaking on Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner’s doping controversy! Well, Roddick has been one of those tennis experts who has been constantly showcasing his support for these two players in the last few months. Just a few weeks ago we saw him raising a few questions by stating, “Are we going to cling to a billionth of a gram of something that hasn’t enhanced performance? What are we trying to solve with the ITIA and then with the WADA?” Now, recently, McEnroe was also spotted agreeing that one billionth of a drug can’t enhance a player’s performance.
John McEnroe backed Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner amidst the doping controversy. Recently, the 65-year-old American tennis legend was invited on the ‘Served with Andy Roddick’ podcast. During the podcast, McEnroe said that he believes Jannik Sinner’s version of the story surrounding how he got into this trouble. For those who are unaware, Jannik Sinner claimed that he was contaminated because his ex-physio, Giocomo Naldi, used a spray that had clostebol in it. It was reported that his ex-trainer, Umberto Ferrara, had brought the spray from Italy.
So, highlighting all these stories from the last few months, John McEnroe said, “As someone who loves to see sports played at a high level, it would be an absolute shame to think that either of these two players would be involved in something like that. Sometimes when you hear the stories, you’re like, ‘What? Really? The masseur had a cut and [Ferrara] gave it [the spray] and then you massage it and there somehow happened.’ But you know I’m on the side of willing to go with it.”
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After hearing this, Andy Roddick asked him what he meant by that. In reply to Roddick’s question, John McEnroe added, “I want to believe the player because I don’t know like you know they said at the US Open a millionth of something in the system…I don’t know what one millionth is, it sounds like absolutely nothing but you know I don’t know what 10.001. So, I’m not the right guy to ask, I’m just hopeful that this is something that doesn’t plague our sport.“
However, this isn’t the first time that we’ve heard John McEnroe speak on this controversial topic. During the 2024 US Open, John McEnroe weighed in on the saga and stated that Jannik Sinner may struggle to recover his reputation in the eyes of his doubters. He further added, “I don’t know enough about the circumstances, but when you hear it’s one billionth of one particle, you start to feel like that certainly sounds like it couldn’t do much. Look, I’m a tennis fan and I want to go with believing what ended up happening.” Amid all these, recently Andy Roddick also shared a piece of advice for Iga Swiatek. What did he say?
Andy Roddick advises Iga Swiatek to seek help from Jannik Sinner
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Iga Swiatek was found by the ITIA to be of “no significant fault” after accepting that her melatonin medication had been accidentally contaminated with TMZ. However, despite all these things, Iga Swiatek has faced quite a few backlashes from the fans and other tennis players in the last few weeks. Just a few days ago, we saw her coming with a strong response to the critics saying that she doesn’t agree there are grounds to compare her doping case to the ones of Jannik Sinner or someone like Simona Halep.
After that, even her coach, Wim Fissette took a jibe at her critics saying, “There will always be people who will be negative, but I think that anyone who has read all the documents that Iga has provided and shown to the whole world, sees what happened. And should understand that it was just bad luck. It can happen to any player…I think that those people who are negative about the case, we should ask a few questions about Iga’s report and thus check whether they have actually read it.”
Amid all these things, Andy Roddick recently gave an interview on Christian’s Court YouTube channel. During the interview, Roddick advised Iga Swiatek to be “patient with the process” and to do what she had to do. He explained, “The more emotion you show, the more likely it’s to be a story over and over again.” However, apart from these, Andy Roddick also gave a piece of interesting advice to the Polish star. He said, “If I am Iga I am probably calling him (Sinner) and saying: ‘Are there any hacks that have helped you deal with it the way you have? You have almost got better in the post-mortem of the announcement.’“
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Jannik Sinner is widely praised for the way he handled the controversy with the media. He didn’t even let these off-court things impact his performance on the court. We saw him win the US Open after that! So, with the 2025 season knocking at the door, do you think Iga Swiatek should now take a look at Roddick’s advice seriously?
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Is a billionth of a gram really worth tarnishing a player's reputation in tennis?
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