News:Serena Williams says she would have received a 20-year ban for a similar doping offense to Jannik Sinner:read More

CNN
—
Serena Williams has highlighted the perceived double standards surrounding men’s world No. 1 Jannik Sinner’s doping ban, saying in a new interview with Time magazine that she would have been suspended for 20 years for a similar offense.

Sinner is currently serving a three-month ban having twice tested positive for banned substance Clostebol, an anabolic steroid, in March last year

The three-time grand slam champion previously escaped a ban when the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) ruled that he wasn’t at fault for the positive tests, accepting that the contamination was caused by a physio applying an over-the-counter spray to their own skin – not Sinner’s – to treat a small wound.

However, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) subsequently lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), leading to Sinner accepting a suspension from February 9 to May 4.

Williams, a 23-time grand slam singles champion who stepped away from tennis in 2022, described the Italian as a “fantastic personality” and “great for the sport,” while also acknowledging her surprise at how his case was handled.

“If I did that, I would have gotten (a ban of) 20 years,” she told Time in an interview published on Wednesday. “Let’s be honest. I would have gotten grand slams taken away from me.”

She added: “I’ve been put down so much, I don’t want to bring anyone down … Men’s tennis needs him.”

Sinner, who won the Australian Open at the start of the year, is due to return to the court ahead of next month’s Italian Open in Rome.

Williams is not alone in criticizing the length of Sinner’s ban. Men’s 24-time grand slam singles champion Novak Djokovic said that the whole case was “not a good image for our sport” and suggested that many players believe there “is favoritism happening.”

Meanwhile, British player Liam Broady told BBC Sport that it felt like the suspension was intended to “impact Jannik’s career as little as possible.”

An ITIA spokesperson previously told CNN Sports that it approaches each case in the same way, “irrespective of a player’s ranking or status.”