“It's not a good image for our sport”: Novak Djokovic criticizes lack of transparency on doping in tennis

Novak Djokovic called for more transparency on doping bans in tennis on Sunday, December 29, saying top-ranked players appeared to be treated differently than others.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion agreed with Australian Nick Kyrgios, who said Saturday that the current integrity of their sport was a “horror”.

The two players were speaking out about anti-doping rule violations involving world number ones Jannik Sinner of Italy and Iga Swiatek of Poland during 2024.

On two occasions in March 2024, tiny traces of the steroid clostebol were found in Sinner's body, and he was briefly suspended each time. But the Italian pleaded ignorance and especially contamination, and was completely cleared by the International Agency for Tennis Integrity (Itia) before the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed.

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“We have players who have been waiting for over a year for their cases to be resolved”

A few months after Sinner, the Polish Iga Swiatek, current number 2, was also suspended for one month for doping after trimetazidine was discovered in her body in August. Here too, the Itia accepted the excuse of contamination.

According to Djokovic, 37, who will play doubles with Kyrgios at the Brisbane tournament this week, top players like Sinner and Swiatek are treated differently from those who occupy a lower position in the ATP and WTA rankings.

“I think Nick has valid points regarding transparency and the inconsistency of the protocols and the case-by-case comparisons,”, the Serb stressed.

“We have players who have been waiting for over a year for their cases to be resolved”, he recalled.

While Djokovic said he believed Sinner when he claimed he had tested positive for the steroid clostebol after being infected by his physiotherapist, he said he was “very frustrated, like most other players, to have been kept in the dark for five months,” he said.

“I just wonder about the way the system works”

“(Sinner) received the news (of the positive tests) in April and the announcement was only made in August, just before the US Open. The ATP hasn't really spoken in depth about why they kept this case away from the public”, he lamented.

“Then we had the case of (Simona) Halep and the case of Swiatek on the WTA circuit and it's not a good image for our sport“, he explained, in reference to the case of the Romanian, former world No. 1, initially suspended for four years in 2022 for a positive test and an irregularity in her biological passport, a sanction reduced to nine months in March 2024.

“I I just wonder about how the system works,” Djokovic added. “Why aren't some players treated the same as others? Maybe there are ranking reasons behind it, or maybe others have more financial backing behind them or stronger legal teams.”