Why is Jannik Sinner being called out after Iga Swiatek's doping ban?

Iga Swiatek is banned for one month, while Jannik Sinner was stripped of his prize money and points from the Indian Wells Masters.

Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner has found himself under the scanner after Iga Swiatek’s a one-month ban by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) on Wednesday. Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios and 2024 US Open finalist Taylor Fritz are among the players who have called out the two-time Grand Slam champion after Swiatek’s suspension.

Iga Swiatek tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned heart medication. It’s been stated that Swiatek’s psychologist bought for her the medication at a pharmacy in Poland. She was initially suspended in September after the 2024 US Open. However, the suspension was eventually lifted as she found a believable explanation for the contamination.

In that time period, she missed the China Open, the Wuhan Open, and the Korea Open, citing personal reasons. Recently, she took to social media and uploaded a video where she accepted taking the drug. Iga Swiatek also accepted the one-month suspension under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme for testing positive for the prohibited substance trimetazidine.

However, earlier this year, Jannik Sinner tested positive for Clostebol, a banned substance. Clostebol is an anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS), which is derived from testosterone. He had a trace element of the substance in his body, which is less than a billionth of a gram. As a result of the tests, he was stripped of his prize money and ranking points from his 2024 Indian Wells Masters.

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At that time, tennis stars such as Nick Kyrgios and Denis Shapovalov fired shots at Sinner as well as ITIA for having double standards for top-ranked players. Kyrgios wrote on X, “The excuse that we can all use is that we didn’t know. Simply didn’t know. Professionals at the highest level of sport can now just say “we didn’t know.”

The excuse that we can all use is that we didn’t know. Simply didn’t know. Professionals at the highest level of sport can now just say “we didn’t know” 👏

— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) November 29, 2024

In Iga Swiatek’s scenario, the cases of Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep are being called out. Sharapova was banned for two years, while Halep was initially suspended in October 2022. However, she was later banned for four years, a period which was reduced to nine months in March after an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. However, she’s yet to get the green flag for return.

Nevertheless, two top tennis players getting under the radar of doping in a span of three to four months is a rare thing.

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