Tennis doping: WADA makes Jannik Sinner look like a saint!

Champion or cheat, the verdict is now out on Jannik Sinner. The latest news of the Italian stitching a deal with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) reeks of arrogance and insensitivity.

Tennis world is up in arms, how a man who could have faced a four-year ban from the WADA now walks away with a ban less than three months. Worse, this absence from the tennis season has been crafted in such a way, Sinner will not miss any Grand Slam.

There is a palpable sense of outrage on social media. Tennis players who were in slumber or had retired have come out in full force. There are examples of many tennis players having flunked dope tests and their careers doomed. No, Sinner has been given special treatment.

In the first place, the WADA hearing at CAS was scheduled for April 2025. How the whole thing has been fast-tracked exposes the nexus between the WADA and the player and his agents. It is not as if the WADA has suddenly become kind.

There has been engagement between WADA and Sinner's team, which has got accelerated after the Australian Open triumph. Rewind to January 2025, when Sinner retained the Australian Open. His stare value zoomed further, he became symbolic of someone who is a messiah for tennis and not a dope cheat.

Even Carlos Alcaraz said the kind of tennis which Sinner has been playing makes him look like someone from another planet. All that was fine. Tennis is now up in arms as preferential treatment has been meted out to Sinner.

As it is, with two legends flunking dope tests in 2024, Sinner and Iga Swiatek, the sport of tennis took a massive beating. It suggested the ITIA, an independent testing body was not doing fool-proof testing.

More than that, to pardon cheats and 'catch' lesser mortals has come in for flak, across various sports. Sample all the comments on social media, tennis is in turmoil.

Nick Kyrgios has been baiting Sinner from Day 1. Many more have now jumped into fray. The reason is someone like Simona Halep was banned and it was then cut short. She suffered and on return could hardly play and retired recently.

More famous, Novak being banned from playing in the Australian Open and US Open during the Covid pandemic again makes news. He was not a cheat or a dope cheat, but the treatment he received was so pathetic. More than Sinner, the WADA stands stripped naked.

How come the highest anti-doping agency has soft-pedalled on a high-profile dope case is unfathomable. For those who have done a deep dive, questions are being asked if there has been any kind of 'financial deal' between Sinner and WADA.

And why not? In so many sports, people have failed to prove they are not a cheat. For a minor offence, the punishment has been harshest punishment. WADA has shown sympathy to Jannik Sinner, and this is strange. So, who is the sinner? Make your guess.