Novak Djokovic addressed Jannik Sinner‘s doping saga, admitting once more that, in his opinion, the current system doesn’t work very well.
Djokovic has never shied away from criticizing the so-called status quo in tennis. He’s not the most vocal advocate for change in tennis, but when he sees something he thinks should be improved upon, he speaks his mind.
That’s why he formed the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) in the first place: to challenge the status quo. With that impressive disruptor resume, it shouldn’t be a huge surprise that Djokovic has some bones to pick with the whole doping system, which he has called into question before.
He’s hardly been the only one, as quite a few players have had issues with how it’s set in the past. The Serbian famously criticized the system in light of Sinner’s doping saga, and he was asked about it once more ahead of the 2024 Shanghai Masters after the news of the appeal broke.
A few days ago, the news of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealing Sinner’s case came out, which is a headache the Italian player didn’t need.
It leaves the potential for him to be more severely punished than he was initially, but speculating about that is futile because the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will decide on the matter. For Djokovic, it’s rather simple: he simply repeated what he said in the past, that the doping control system is not a good system.
“Well, I think it’s quite obvious that we have a system that is not working well. So, I guess that’s probably something that even the people who are not following our sport are realizing.”
“There’s way too many inconsistencies, way too many governing bodies involved, and, you know, just this whole case is not helping our sport at all.”
The system, like anything, could probably be improved. Djokovic also shared some insight that most people probably didn’t know: Sinner has already won three appeals, which is adding a lot of stress to him and his family.
Now, the Italian has to go through that process again, and it’s just not good for him or the sport overall. Djokovic also praised Sinner for what he’s been able to do on the courts under that amount of pressure.
“I think he has won the three appeals so far that he had, and, you know, it must be very tough for him and his team and family. Hopefully, we can go back to tennis and, I mean, it’s impressive what he was been doing, in the whole process of what’s been happening, that he’s playing such a high level, winning Grand Slam and, you know, winning most of the matches that he played.”
“But that’s not, you know, this situation or these circumstances are not positive for our sport, so hopefully we can resolve this case as soon as possible. Whatever’s going to happen, at the end of the day, I just wish for it to be resolved as soon as possible. Yeah, that’s all I have to say about that.”
