Toni Nadal joins Sinner debate : “I’m against the sanction”
Toni Nadal is not in favor of Jannik Sinner’s current suspension from tennis, which dates back to early February and runs until early May.
Toni Nadal | © Antoine Couvercelle / Panoramic
With Jannik Sinner suspended until the first week of May, the debate over his ban continues to be the big story in tennis.
Toni Nadal joined the discussion when he gave a recent interview to the Spanish media outlet Marca. Rafael Nadal’s uncle and longtime coach reiterated that he is against Sinner’s punishment — one that sidelines the top-ranked Italian from the tour for three months.
“I’ve already said it many times and explained it,” the elder Nadal said, “I’m against the sanction. I know Sinner personally and he had no intention of committing a crime and you can’t treat a person like that for a mistake that happened by chance. It can’t be that you have that desire to supervise and sanction. You have to sanction someone who intentionally does things wrong and is looking for their own benefit. And I know that’s not the case with Sinner. I know that he didn’t benefit from what they found. So why do you want to sanction him? It’s true that they say that others who aren’t No 1 were sanctioned because they did wrong before.
“I’m surprised that different players have positioned themselves against it, even some at the highest level, and some who are not very clean themselves.”
Sinner, the Australian Open champion, will miss Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo and Madrid. He can return in time for the Rome Masters in front of his home crowd and Roland-Garros.
