"It's a really difficult moment for him": Carlos Alcaraz weighs in on Jannik Sinner's doping scandal

Spain’s young tennis star Carlos Alcaraz has opened up about the doping controversy involving the world number one, Italy’s Jannik Sinner. Both players, along with Serbia's Novak Djokovic, are already regarded amongst the best currently playing in men’s tennis in the singles category.

Sinner has been involved in a controversy recently. He narrowly escaped a ban after being tested positive on more than one occasion for a banned substance in doping tests. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), in a detailed statement, explained why they decided not to ban the reigning world number one.

Their decision, however, received severe criticism from some of the current and former players who asked for consistency from an organisation like ITIA regarding matters such as doping. Alcaraz has become the latest high-profile player to speak about it in detail. World number three was recently quoted in a report in which he admitted that Sinner is going through a tough time. He also went on to call for ‘clean’ sport.

"Well, it's a really difficult moment for him, that's for sure,” he said. “It is complicated. I mean, I'm not gonna lie, it is complicated. But obviously what I can say? I mean, in English it's going to be difficult for me to explain myself, but I try. Well, I believe in a clean sport. So I don't know too much about that. You know, I am pretty sure that there are a lot of things that we don't know, you know, inside the team or inside, you know, everything. But if they let Jannik to keep playing, is for something, they said he's innocent. So that's all I know and that's all I can talk about."

Both Sinner and Alcaraz are set to take part in the US Open 2024. The world number one will start his campaign against Mackenzie McDonald whereas the Spaniard will begin his campaign in New York with a match against Australia’s Li Tu.