A few days after receiving a three-month tennis ban, world number one Jannik Sinner was seen training in Doha, Qatar.
On February 18, social network X appeared a post from the account The Tennis Letter showing Sinner practicing on the sidelines of the Qatar Open on February 14. If the video is real, Sinner has violated the training ban, which is valid from February 9 to April 13. According to the three-month ban from WADA, the Italian tennis player is only allowed to practice at official tennis facilities and with other players from April 14, and is allowed to compete again from May 4.
Many fans have left questions in the comment section below the video. Among them are opinions that Sinner seems to have ignored the ban because he knows he is receiving preferential treatment from tennis organizations. The 23-year-old had previously agreed to a three-month suspension with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) as a way to take responsibility for the mistakes of a member of his coaching staff in a failed doping test in March 2024.
The three-month ban from WADA does not affect Sinner’s Grand Slam events. The ban began 15 days after he won the Australian Open, and ended around 20 days before Roland Garros. This is believed to be a deliberate arrangement by the organizations handling the case, although WADA had previously wanted to suspend Sinner for one or two years.
After Sinner’s three-month ban was announced on February 15, a wave of protests against WADA and Sinner rose. Several big names, including Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka and Nick Kyrgios, have protested the ban, saying it unfairly favours Sinner and is unfair to previous doping cases that have resulted in lengthy suspensions.
“A sad day for tennis,” Nick Kyrgios wrote on X. “Sinner was found guilty, but the ban means he’s just in time for Roland Garros. So they’re not really taking anything away from him.”
Sinner’s compromise suggests he’s accepted WADA’s offer, rather than fighting to clear his name. “It’s very hard for fans around the world to forgive a player for doping, right or wrong. Sinner will forever be associated with the term doping cheat,” commented the Australian News.