US Open: Novak Djokovic’s verbal volley on Sinner saga stirs up the plot

It’s against an unusual backdrop that the US Open, the last of the tennis slams this year, is starting on Monday. More than whether Novak Djokovic can defend his title for his 25th slam title, the buzz is around whether the tennis establishment has betrayed a ‘double standard’ in not suspending world No.1 Jannik Sinner despite testing positive twice for steroids.  

The narrative emerging out of the customary media conferences is that of the Italian trying to come clear with his announcement that he has sacked fitness coach Umberto Ferrara and physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi – the two key members of his support staff allegedly responsible for the star testing positive for Clostebol, a banned anabolic steroid, on March 10 and 18 after the Indian Wells this year.

 The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), which announced the results of the drug tests last Tuesday, ruled that the performance-enhancer entered Sinner’s system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist. An argument, which in the words of Djokovic, shows a ‘lack of consistency.’

 “Many players ... have had similar or pretty much the same cases, where they haven’t had the same outcome,” Djokovic said, “and now the question is whether it is a case of the funds — whether a player can afford to pay a significant amount of money for a law firm that would then more efficiently represent his or her case.”

Strong words these and when the elder statesman of men’s tennis speaks like this, it creates an impact. The Serbian’s words echoed that of the likes of Nick Kyrgios, Denis Shapovalov or Liam Broady, all of whom felt it was a clear case of double standards as Sinner – the new hot property in men’s tennis – is too big a name to be missing from the US Open line-up. Carlos Alcaraz, the 2022 winner of US Open, decided to play safe on the issue as he felt it was too delicate an issue to comment on.  

 In his press conference in New York, Sinner countered: ‘’What we have to see is the amount I had in my body, which is 0.000000001, so there are a lot of zeroes before coming up a 1.’’ His defense was that Ferrara, the fitness coach, purchased an over-the-counter spray that contained Clostebol in Italy and gave it to Naldi, who used it on a cut finger. Sinner said Naldi then gave him a massage.

  Even after taking Sinner’s words on face value, this brings us back to the question whether ITIA has the discretion to waive off cases if the presence of any prohibited substance is fractional – especially since two tests had been conducted on him. The most high profile case of doping in tennis in recent times is that of Simona Halep, the former world No.1 women’s tennis player from Romania, first banned by ITIA till September 2026 for two doping violations.   

However, Halep and her think tank appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) which upheld her appeal and allowed her to return to the courts. The CAS ruled that Halep’s violation was probably ‘unintentional,’ a window which was used by Sinner’s counsel too.

 There could be valid questions about the ‘unintentional’ violation bit – as that is a common refrain from most athletes found guilty of the offence. Sinner, meanwhile, had to forfeit $ 325,000 in prize money for reaching the semi-finals in Indian Wells and had to also undergo 2000 points. However, the Italian had been in red hot form this year with a 48-5 record and enters the US Open with five titles in the bag, including the Cincinnati Open last weekend. He begins his campaign on Tuesday and has been handed a tricky draw where Alcaraz awaits him in the semi-final.

 The New York crowd will also not want to make Sinner’s life any easier after the doping saga – neither will Djokovic. The latter, on a high after taming Alcaraz for his first gold in Olympics in Paris, has already served the first verbal volley.

 We will now wait and watch…