"I don't think he's that dumb": Andy Roddick questions Jannik Sinner's lack of suspension compared to Iga Swiatek

ATP
Wednesday, 04 December 2024 at 17:30
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Former world number one Andy Roddick has once again raised questions about Jannik Sinner not receiving any suspension after Iga Swiatek’s case. The 23-year-old is regarded as one of the best players currently playing in men’s tennis in the singles category.

Sinner has had a fabulous season where he was nearly perfect on the court. However, he remained in the news for the wrong reasons after testing positive for a banned substance, Clostebol. Interestingly, the reigning world number one managed to escape a potential ban after the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted the player’s counsel response where they claimed that the availability of a banned substance in the player’s sample in minimal quantity was because of receiving a cream from one member of the coaching staff to treat an injury.

That decision received serious backlash from certain quarters of the tennis community, who demanded more uniform treatment for all players involved in such controversies. Most recently, women’s world number two Iga Swiatek received a one-match suspension after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine. Former world number one Roddick, in his podcast on YouTube channel, questioned the inconsistency in decision-making after Swiatek received a ban but Sinner managed to escape any punishment.

"The thing that's interesting is I'm always obsessed with precedent, right? So, they will say the precedent was set that she (Swiatek) was suspended for a month,” he said. “I don't know how Sinner gets any less than that. With Swiatek, it wasn't someone on her team. It wasn't as if someone who did it to her like the Sinner case, assuming we believe the story he's told. I'm not saying you have to. I just don't think he would risk his entire career for something that didn't enhance performance. I've said it many times. If he knowingly did it and got zero benefit, I'd actually take a larger suspension just for stupidity. I'm not going to go after Sinner because I don't think he knew. I don't think he's that dumb. I just don't. Maybe I'm wrong. We'll never know. Best player on earth and worst doper that's ever lived, maybe.”

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