"Poorly managed, poorly fought and poorly done": Richard Gasquet hits out at 'amateur' handling of Sinner and Swiatek cases
WTA
As the tennis world continues to digest the news of Iga Swiatek's positive doping violation and the subsequent one month suspension, Richard Gasquet has hit out instead at those who are involved in doping.
Gasquet who ends his career at Roland Garros next year spoke to French media and said that the fact there is no system and people find out when it is done is tantamount to the issue. He called those involved amateurs and said it is poorly done all round.
In a damning verdict on the whole situation, he said it is not normal and not professional for everyone to merely find out when it is completed instead of like any criminal trial where the details unless hidden due to reporting restrictions would be made public. Even hidden, trials that are ongoing have a start date confirmed so in Gasquet's view, it is very much amateur hour for the bodies involved.
"What worries me the most is that we don’t really understand how it’s going to happen. You find out about it afterwards! Normally, there’s a trial, then you have a deliberation, you have a sentence. Now, we’re learning everything at the same time and that’s not normal, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s not up to par," he said to La Depeche.
"I think the case is very poorly managed. You suddenly learn, ‘Hey, he’s been judged.’ During this time, nothing happened, we didn’t know anything. It’s not normal, it’s not professional."
"Afterwards, the case itself, I don’t know anything about it, I haven’t looked too much. Anyway, it was poorly managed, poorly fought and poorly done, that’s a certainty."
"Sports justice is full of amateurs. There’s a cacophony. We all learn it at the same time and no one knows nothing. That doesn’t sound professional at all. Everyone says it. It’s a bit grotesque."
"The toughest battle of my life."
— Eurosport (@eurosport) November 28, 2024
Iga Swiatek's full statement after accepting a one-month suspension under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme for testing positive for the prohibited substance trimetazidine. pic.twitter.com/Zya4YmAEqO
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