Ahead of the 2025 Brisbane International Tennis Tournament, Serbian tennis legend Novak Djokovic, alongside Australian player Nick Kyrgios, jointly lambasted the tennis world for the lack of transparency in handling anti-doping cases, particularly those involving top-tier players.
Djokovic and Kyrgios spoke out at a pre-tournament press conference, expressing their strong dissatisfaction with the way doping tests and subsequent actions are conducted in tennis. They pointed out that in recent years, several top players, including world number one Italian Matteo Sinner and Polish female player Iga Swiatek, have been caught in a whirlwind of controversy due to positive doping test results, yet the governing bodies have handled these cases with a lack of transparency.
Djokovic specifically mentioned Sinner’s case, arguing that although Sinner claimed to have inadvertently ingested the steroid clostebol due to contamination by his physiotherapist, the fact that players are kept in the dark during the entire investigation process is deeply disappointing. He emphasized that this opaque handling not only undermines players’ rights but also severely damages the fairness and integrity of tennis.
Similarly, Swiatek tested positive for the heart medication trimetazidine during an out-of-competition doping test in August 2024. Although the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) deemed her violation as unintentional and only imposed a one-month suspension, this punishment sparked widespread questioning. Djokovic and other players believe that governing bodies should handle such cases with stricter and more impartial standards to ensure the fairness and purity of the competition.
It is worth noting that compared to the four-year ban imposed on Romanian player Simona Halep for using the doping substance roxadustat, the penalties for Sinner and Swiatek appear overly lenient. Despite Halep successfully appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and reducing her suspension to nine months, this incident still exposes the injustice and inconsistency in the tennis world’s handling of doping issues.
Djokovic’s criticism serves as a wake-up call for tennis governing bodies. He urges them to strengthen supervision, improve transparency, and ensure that all players receive fair and equal treatment. Only by doing so can the reputation and appeal of tennis be maintained, allowing the sport to develop in a healthier and more sustainable manner.
