Novak Djokovic has called on tennis authorities to overhaul the sport’s anti-doping system, pointing out inconsistencies in cases involving top stars Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek, Afrosport reports.
Men’s world number one Sinner agreed to a three-month ban on Saturday for admitting partial responsibility for mistakes by his team which led to him twice testing positive for traces of Clostebol in March last year.
Earlier last year, five-time Grand Slam champion and former women’s world number one Swiatek accepted a one-month ban after testing positive for the banned heart drug trimetazidine.
Djokovic, who is returning to action this week at the Qatar Open, thinks a change is needed.
He said: “Right now it’s a ripe time for us to really address the system, because the system and the structure obviously doesn’t work [for] anti-doping, it’s obvious.
“I hope that in the next period of the near future that the governing bodies are going to come together, of our tours and the tennis ecosystem, and try to find a more effective way to deal with these processes.
“It’s inconsistent, and it appears to be very unfair.”
He added: “If you are going to treat every case individually or independently, which is what’s happening, then there’s no consistency, then there is no transparency, and some cases are transparent, some are not.
“The problem is that right now there is a lack of trust generally from the tennis players, both male and female, towards WADA and ITIA, and the whole process.”
Djokovic will be back in action since retiring from the Australian Open semi-finals against eventual runner-up Alexander Zverev.
