“Poorly managed, poorly fought” – Gasquet reacts to Sinner and Swiatek’s doping cases
“Normally, there’s a trial, then you have a deliberation, you have a sentence. Now, we’re learning everything at the same time”
© Federico Pestellini / Panoramic
The tennis world has been gripped with an air of uncertainty with the revelations of Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek‘s doping offences and Frenchman Richard Gasquet isn’t too impressed with how things have unfolded in the two cases.
“What worries me the most is that we don’t really understand how it’s going to happen,” Gasquet said about the cases in an interview with La Depeche (translated). “You find out about it afterwards! Normally, there’s a trial, then you have a deliberation, you have a sentence. Now, we’re learning everything at the same time and that’s not normal, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s not up to par.”
Sinner’s doping story, which began at Indian Wells in March 2024, is yet to reach a conclusion as his files rest on the desk of the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS) after World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) challenged the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) decision to free the Italian of any wrongdoing.
Swiatek’s scandal is more recent. She failed a dope test in August this year, following which the ITIA banned the Pole for only one month.
Expressing his annoyance over the ITIA not going public with Sinner and Swiatek’s violations immediately, Gasquet continued:
“I think the case is very poorly managed. You suddenly learn, ‘Hey, he’s been judged.’ During this time, nothing happened, we didn’t know anything. It’s not normal, it’s not professional. Afterwards, the case itself, I don’t know anything about it, I haven’t looked too much.
“Anyway, it was poorly managed, poorly fought and poorly done, that’s a certainty. Sports justice is full of amateurs. There’s a cacophony. We all learn it at the same time and no one knows nothing. That doesn’t sound professional at all. Everyone says it. It’s a bit grotesque.”
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