Jannik Sinner "is doing immense damage to our sport", says former tennis player

The fuss about Jannik Sinner's 3-month ban still resounds in the tennis industry. The agreement reached between the Italian World No. 1 and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has been seen as setting a precedent among tennis players. Alexander Waske, former German tennis player, described this way for Sport 1: "Most professionals want a clear approach, a clear set of rules that state exactly what has to be done, and that are not open to negotiation. Tennis is suffering from this because it is being portrayed as dubious."

He believes that, after Sinner's case, who was saved from a much longer ban (maybe 1 or 2 years) after agreeing with WADA, tennis players will see this "as a precedent where they can soon negotiate their own penalties". "There needs to be a clear structure as to how testing is done and who is doing it. What is required is a very clear guideline. There can only be one organization that carries it out and has everything under control". With the added problem that not all tennis players (the majority) don't have the money to pay the best sport lawyers as Sinner has, which is what many of the complains are about.

Jannik Sinner "is a fantastic character", but has done "immense damage".

There is a lot of criticism against the institutions: WADA, ITF and ATP, and uncertainty about which rules to follow. But what about the player himself? Waske has good things to say about Sinner ("he is a fantastic character, a real champion who always has a good word to say, who is extremely athletic and who you wouldn't believe would dope")... but the German still believes that he has done "immense damage to tennis".

"He is still doing immense damage to our sport because he obviously wanted to get the best out of it for himself. From his point of view, he has done nothing wrong, but the other players are right to demand clear guidelines. It's just wishy-washy".

To Waske, "no one is attacking Sinner personally, he seems to have a lot of integrity. And if it really was as he describes it, then it is unfortunate. But then he shouldn't have been banned at all". In the end, Sinner (who always said that the positive in Clostebol was incidental, a contact from a physiotherapist who used a lotion) has had to plead guilty to have a light punishment, even if he had been innocent all along. "Unfortunately, that will stay with him for the rest of his sporting life. He could become a huge champion in our sport, but this will always hang over him".