Doping in Tennis: “Questioning Way System Works” – Serial Grand Slam Winner Djokovic on Indifferent Treatment

Multi-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic will keep on believing Tennis is a clean sport, but called for more transparency around doping suspensions on Sunday (December 29), questioning the differential treatment for high-ranked players compared to others.

The 24-time grand slam champion statement comes 24 hours after his Brisbane International men's doubles partner, Australian Nick Kyrgios, who said integrity in the sport was "awful". The duo's comments come in the wake of doping violations by world No 1s Italian Jannik Sinner and Poland's Iga Swiatek during 2024.

Swiatek, currently world number two, faced a one-month suspension after testing positive for a banned heart medication in August, when she was ranked first in the world, while world number one Sinner tested positive for anabolic steroid clostebol twice in March and the Italian could also face suspension from the sport.

Sinner was cleared of any wrongdoing by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) but the World Anti-Doping Agency has launched an appeal against it at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Swiatek, meanwhile, accepted a one-month ban after testing positive for trimetazidine.

Former world number one Simona Halep, who was given a four-year ban for doping violations which was later reduced, recently questioned the "big difference" in how doping cases were treated by the ITIA after Swiarek was handed a one-month ban for her positive test.

Speaking in a video posted by Sky Sports, Djokovic still wanted to believe that Tennis is a clean sport, but questioned the way the system works as certain players get different treatment with regards to their bans.

"You know, it's not a good image for and not a good look for our sport. Of course, you don't want to see that because I believe in the last 20 plus years that I've been playing professional tour, we have been one of the cleanest sport," Djokovic said in a video shared by Sky Sports on X.

"At least I believed we are or we have been (cleanest sport). So, I will keep on believing that. Yeah, I'm just questioning the way the system works really and why certain players are not treated same like the other players. The issue is the inconsistency and transparency. We've been kept in the dark with Jannik's case.

"I mean, I'm not questioning whether you know he took the banned substance intentionally or not. You know, I believe in clean sport. I believe that the player will do everything possible to be playing fairly.

"And I knew, I know Jannik since he was very young. So, it doesn't strike me as somebody that would do such thing. But I've been really frustrated (with) is most of the other players to see that we have been kept in the dark for five months now," Djokovic added.

Earlier, Kyrgios said that doping cases involving Grand Slam winners Sinner and Swiatek are "disgusting" for tennis and the integrity of the sport is "awful".

"I just think that it's been handled horrifically in our sport. Two world number ones both getting done for doping is disgusting for our sport. It's a horrible look. The tennis integrity right now, and everyone knows it but no one wants to speak about it, is awful," the Australian said.