Novak Djokovic has called for a major overhaul of tennis’ anti-doping system, citing “inconsistencies” in how cases involving top players like Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek are handled compared to those of lower-ranked athletes.
World No. 1 Sinner agreed to a three-month ban on Saturday, accepting “partial responsibility” for errors made by his team that led to two positive tests for traces of clostebol in March last year.
Initially, Sinner had been cleared by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) in August, but the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), seeking a potential two-year ban.
In a surprising turn, WADA later withdrew its appeal and reached a settlement with Sinner, imposing a reduced three-month suspension.
Similarly, in another high-profile case last year, five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek received a one-month ban after testing positive for the prohibited heart medication trimetazidine.
“There’s a majority of the players that I’ve talked to in the locker room, not just in the last few days, but also last few months, that are not happy with the way this whole process has been handled,” said Djokovic.
“A majority of the players don’t feel that it’s fair. A majority of the players feel like there is favouritism happening. It seems like, it appears that you can almost affect the outcome if you are a top player, if you have access to the top lawyers.”
Meanwhile, former world No. 1 Simona Halep, who recently retired, was initially given a four-year ban by the ITIA in 2022 after testing positive for the blood-boosting drug roxadustat.
Halep maintained that the positive test was due to a contaminated supplement and took her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled in her favor and reduced the suspension to nine months.
“Simona Halep and (Britain’s) Tara Moore and some other players that are maybe less known that have been struggling to resolve their cases for years, or have gotten the ban for years,” said Djokovic.
“There is so much inconsistencies between the cases.”
Djokovic, set to make his return at the Qatar Open this week after withdrawing from last month’s Australian Open semi-finals due to injury, insists that reforms are necessary.
“Right now it’s a ripe time for us to really address the system, because the system and the structure obviously doesn’t work (for) anti-doping, it’s obvious,” he said.
“I hope that in the next period of the near future that 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.
“It’s inconsistent, and it appears to be very unfair.”
“If you are going to treat every case individually or independently, which is what’s happening, then there’s no consistency, then there is no transparency, and some cases are transparent, some are not,” he continued.
“The problem is that right now there is a lack of trust generally from the tennis players, both male and female, towards WADA and ITIA, and the whole process.”
