Alcaraz: Reopening Sinner case “not a good sign” for tennis

Carlos Alcaraz said on Sunday that the effective reopening of the Jannik Sinner drugs case is “not a good sign for tennis”.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) announced on Saturday it is appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), seeking a ban of between one and two years for the Italian, who had escaped punishment despite testing positive for a banned drug twice in March.

“It’s really sensitive things to Jannik and tennis in general,” Alcaraz said at the China Open on Sunday. “I mean, after everything was decided, before Cincinnati, that the ITIA (International Tennis Integrity Agency)…saying he didn’t do anything wrong, and now came again, it is open again. I think for tennis is not really good, not really good sign for tennis in general.”

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Sinner was exonerated by an independent tribunal in August, ruling that he bore no fault for the positive tests. The tribunal had accepted Sinner’s explanation that the banned drug, Clostobol, must have entered his system via his physio, who used a contaminated spray to address a cut on his own hand, which then entered Sinner’s body through a massage.

“I thought it was closed,” Alcaraz said. “This month I didn’t know what happen exactly. I just saw the news and it surprised me a little bit. Okay, what’s going on that the case is open again? I don’t know how it’s going to be the next months. For sure to tennis, not a good sign.”

Sympathy with Sinner

Alcaraz said he sympathised with Sinner, especially with the fact that some people look at him in a different light.

“I know that is a really difficult point,” he said. “Is difficult for him. I know everyone talking about it, the news, talking about it. Probably, as he said before New York, people started to look at him in different way. I don’t know how it can be. But for sure I understand the position. I feel him.

“The game and the level that he’s playing with everything he’s been through right now, it’s insane. He’s able to put all the things aside when he step on the court, playing a good tennis, is unbelievable.

“I hope that this thing, this term will be aside soon and he’s able to stay focused on what he loves, and that is playing tennis, trying to keep going. All I can say, I hope that with his people around, his close people and him, not going to feel bad these next months.”

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