Brisbane, December 29 (NationPress) Serbian tennis legend Novak Djokovic, who is targeting his record 25th Grand Slam title at the 2025 Australian Open, expressed his frustration over players being kept uninformed about the doping allegations surrounding men’s world number 1 Jannik Sinner.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has confirmed that it has filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) regarding Sinner, who was determined by an independent tribunal from the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) to have no fault or negligence after testing positive twice for clostebol, a prohibited substance, in March 2024.

“I’m not questioning whether Sinner ingested the banned substance intentionally or not. We’ve witnessed numerous players in the past and some currently under suspension without even testing positive,” said Djokovic.

“Several players with lower rankings have been awaiting resolution of their cases for more than a year. I’ve been genuinely frustrated... to see that we’ve been kept in the dark for at least five months regarding the Sinner case.”

“The ATP hasn’t provided in-depth communication about it. Why has this case been kept away from the public eye? We have seen Simona Halep’s case on the WTA Tour, and now Iga Swiatek’s situation,” Djokovic remarked.

Meanwhile, Iga Swiatek, who was the women’s world number one at the time, served a one-month suspension after testing positive for Trimetazidine (TMZ), a prohibited heart medication.

The ITIA acknowledged that her positive result stemmed from contamination in her melatonin supplements, concluding her suspension on December 4.

“This is not a favorable image for our sport. I’m questioning the operational fairness of the system and why certain players receive different treatment. Perhaps there are ranking considerations or some players possess greater financial resources and robust legal teams to navigate these cases,” he added.