"Not normal, not professional" - Jannik Sinner & Iga Swiatek's doping rows called out by Richard Gasquet for 'poor' management
Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek's doping controversies have drawn criticism from Richard Gasquet. The Frenchman, a former ATP World No. 7, couldn't help but question the management of the cases.
In the buildup to the 2024 US Open, the ITIA and reigning ATP World No. 1 Sinner jointly announced that the Italian had twice tested positive for the prohibited substance Clostebol earlier in the year, and avoided a major suspension by proving to an independent tribunal that he himself was not at fault for the exposure. Multiple prominent names in the tennis world later opined that Sinner should face a lengthy ban.
More recently, it was revealed that former WTA World No. 1 Iga Swiatek had tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ) in September, and accepted a one-month ban, which will end on December 4. This development sparked significant outrage as well.
In a recent interview with La Depeche, Richard Gasquet criticized the nature of the revelations of both Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek's cases. However, the Frenchman refrained from taking either the Italian or the Pole's names.
"What worries me the most is that we don’t really understand how it’s going to happen. 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," Gasquet said.
Gasquet went on to lambast the management of the cases, and suggested that it was unprofessional for both.
"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," Gasquet added.
The former ATP World No. 7 went as far as to label those involved in handling the cases "amateurs."
"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," Gasquet concluded.
Nick Kyrgios, the controversial Australian, is another high-profile figure in tennis to have criticized the outcome of both Sinner and Swiatek's cases.
Nick Kyrgios calls for lengthy ban for Jannik Sinner; reacts harshly to Iga Swiatek's doping saga
After Jannik Sinner's doping row became public, Nick Kyrgios was among the most critical of the punishment meted out to the Italian. According to the 2022 Wimbledon finalist, Sinner should have been suspended for two years for his two Clostebol-positive test results.
"Ridiculous - whether it was accidental or planned. You get tested twice with a banned (steroid) substance… you should be gone for 2 years. Your performance was enhanced. Massage cream…. Yeah nice," Kyrgios wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Following Iga Swiatek's doping revelation, Kyrgios bemoaned how seemingly easy it has become for elite athletes in professional sports to get away with doping violations by simply denying any knowledge of contamination.
"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"," Kyrgios wrote on X.
Kyrgios' take was later refuted by a prominent tennis insider.