‘Imagine Djokovic failed drugs test, then won Australian Open…’: Premier League legend questions Sinner’s doping scandal | Tennis News

Despite his successful title defence in Melbourne, Jannik Sinner’s campaign is shrouded with controversy due to a doping scandal. Sinner, who is the current World No. 1 tested positive twice for an anabolic agent in March last year, but then an independent tribunal accepted his defense that it was due to unintentional contamination.

But fast forward to September after his US Open triumph, the WADA appealed the decision to CAS, which was accepted. The verdict is scheduled to be passed this April, and if it goes against Sinner, he could receive a two-year doping ban.

‘Imagine Djokovic failed a drugs test and…’

Premier League and football legend Matt Le Tissier decided to weigh in on the controversy, and made a Novak Djokovic comparison. The former Southampton player remarked that if Djokovic failed a drugs test and then won the Australian Open during an ongoing reaction, the reaction from the mainstream would have been different.

“Imagine Djokovic had failed a drugs test and then won the Australian open while the investigation is still ongoing, do you think he would have had the same fawning coverage from mainstream media? No, me either”, he wrote, on X.

Meanwhile, even Djokovic has publicly called out the doping investigation of Sinner and Iga Swiatek. Before the Australian Open, the Serbian ace questioned the investigation by ITIA and compared it to the similar offences by other players, and felt that they were handed much more severe offences.

The next Grand Slam for this season will be in May at Roland Garros, a month after the CAS hearing. Sinner is the favourite to win the title, but there are question marks over his future amid the ongoing CAS investigation. The Italian was in dominant form at the Australian Open this year, as he eased past Ben Shelton in the semi-finals and then thrashed German Alexander Zverev in the finals in a one-sided encounter. Meanwhile, his closest rival Carlos Alcaraz crashed out of the Australian Open in the quarter-finals, losing to Djokovic, who retired injured in the semis.