When Morgan suggested that a player of lower rank would’ve been banned for life from tennis, Djokovic interjected, “Exactly.” (Sinner only received a three-month ban between February and May of this year, outside of peak tennis competition season.)
“The lack of transparency, the inconsistency, the convenience of the ban coming between the Slams so he doesn’t miss out, it was so odd,” he continued. “I really don’t like how the case was handled. You could hear many players—both male and female—who had similar situations coming out in the media and complaining that it was a preferable treatment.”
The 38-year-old noted that while he was certain the four-time Grand Slam winner “didn’t do it on purpose,” he is “of course” responsible for testing positive.
“Those are the rules,” Djokovic added. “When you see someone do something very similar and is banned for years, and then he’s banned for provisional, three months or whatever it was, it’s just not right.”
Nevertheless, the Serbian player had no problem praising Sinner’s performance in the last few months.
