Ahead of the Australian Open, Jannik Sinner was hoping to get over his doping controversy, which had landed him in a major soup since the days before the US Open last year. However, the controversy refuses to die down as the Italian star received a fresh setback in this matter. Just hours before the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, it was revealed that WADA has scheduled a closed-door hearing for the case, which will begin on April 16 this year at its headquarters in Lausanne. As a result, it is possible that Sinner could be handed a lengthy suspension if things don’t go his way. While the news broke out, tennis legend Martina Navratilova came to Sinner’s defense.

The tennis world has been divided over Sinner’s doping controversy, with some feeling that he was let off after failing doping tests while others jumped to his defense. Navratilova is among the latter, who has been quite outspoken in Sinner’s defense. Earlier today, she appeared on the Tennis Channel Live Podcast during which she called out WADA after it reopened Sinner’s case.

She said, “I’ll be very diplomatic here and say it all stinks. The whole system needs to be blown up and start over again. There is so much scrutiny over WADA right now. They deal with the Chinese swimmers and then Sinner and Swiatek, for sure, they were not doping. We’re trying to catch cheaters and not people trying to apply massage cream on their body.”

Earlier, the ITIA let off Sinner after he provided a valid justification about how he came in contact with the banned substance, Clostebol. Apparently, the spray applied by his physio contained the banned substance due to which he failed the doping tests. However, WADA filed an appeal with the CAS, challenging ITIA’s decision to not ban Sinner over the doping case. This hasn’t gone down well with Navratilova, who has been very vocal against WADA’s appeal.

However, this isn’t the first time in recent days that Navratilova has slammed WADA over the handling of Sinner’s case. A few days back, she took to social media to slam the agency, saying, “WADA stinks. Been saying that for years.” This came after journalist Jon Wertheim updated about WADA’s appeal on Twitter, saying, “Unfortunate timing… a 90-day ban would likely take him out of multiple Majors. Especially since WADA is not contesting the facts or intent, but rather the application of strict liability laws, one would expect a fairly quick decision….”

Meanwhile, Sinner is gearing up to defend his title Down Under, having clinched his maiden Grand Slam title at this place last year. However, Navratilova had a surprising take on Sinner’s title defense.

Martina Navratilova snubs Jannik Sinner for Novak Djokovic

Ahead of the Australian Open, Sinner was dubbed the favorite to win the title according to the odds. He had odds of +120 as against Alcaraz’s +350 and Djokovic’s +550. However, Navratilova was surprised at this and had differing views on the potential champion this time around.

During a conversation on Tennis Channel, she said, “I think I will be putting money on him [Novak Djokovic] and also Taylor Fritz. I think he’s got a good draw with [Daniil] Medvedev in this quarter. I am surprised that Jannik [Sinner] is a collectively bigger favorite than either [Carlos] Alcaraz and Djokovic combined. That just doesn’t add up for me. But he [Novak Djokovic] didn’t have a great year. But yeah, I think Fritz would be a good bet, and Djokovic for sure. I mean, you have to give him the nod because of the history there.”

Hoping to get over the doping controversy, Sinner begins his Australian Open title defense tomorrow against Nicolas Jarry. Who do you think will win this year’s Australian Open? Let us know your views in the comments below.