NEW YORK (AP) — Roger Federer thinks The Jannik Sinner Doping Case raises questions about whether the current No. 1 ranked tennis player should have been allowed to continue competing until he was cleared of intentionally using an anabolic steroid for which he tested positive twice in March.
“It’s not something we want to see in our sport, that kind of news, regardless of whether he did something or not. Or any player did it. It’s just noise that we don’t want. I understand the frustration of wondering if he was treated the same as everyone else. And I think that’s where it all comes down to it. We’re all convinced that in the end, he didn’t do anything,” Federer said Tuesday during an appearance on the “Today” show to promote a photo book of him. “But the inconsistency, potentially, of him not having to sit on the bench when they weren’t 100 percent sure what was going on — I think that’s the question that needs to be answered.”
Several top players were interviewed about Sinnerwho is set to face 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam tournament on Wednesday.
Rafael Nadal said on a Spanish television show Monday that he did not believe Sinner received preferential treatment.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency said on August 20 that it had been determined that the banned doping agent had inadvertently entered Sinner’s system via a massage from his physiotherapist, and that is why the player was not suspended.
Asked about the issue in New York before the start of the US Open, Novak Djokovic He said he understood why some tennis players wondered whether there was a double standard in the sport.
“It’s a delicate situation and it’s the nightmare of every athlete and every team, to have these allegations and these problems,” Federer said, adding: “We also have to trust the process of everyone involved.”
The 20-time Grand Slam champion had planned to be in the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium to watch the tennis, his first visit to the venue since he stopped competing. Federer announced his retirement in 2022; he played his last official match at Wimbledon the previous year.
He is the last man to win back-to-back US Open titles, collecting five straight from 2004 to 2008.
Federer said he recently spoke with Nadalhis longtime on-court rival and off-court friend, who is 38 and has played little in the past two seasons due to injuries, including hip surgery last year. He will not compete at the U.S. Open.
There are questions about whether Nadal, who has won 22 Grand Slam trophies, will return to the circuit.
“He can do whatever he wants,” Federer said. “He’s one of the most iconic tennis players we’ve ever had in our sport. I just hope he can leave the way he wants to.”
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Tennis AP: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
