CHRIS EVERT MAKES ‘PROTECT’ CLAIM AND QUESTIONS JANNIK SINNER’S TEAM AMID DOPING CASE SAGA

Chris Evert believes doping regulations do “protect” top players amid the news of Jannik Sinner’s two failed drug tests.

World No 1 and Australian Open champion Sinner has been found to be of “no fault” after twice testing positive for clostebol in March this year, with one test coming during Indian Wells.

After both tests, the Italian and his team successfully appealed against an initial suspension, meaning he was able to play without the violations becoming public knowledge.

Sinner has been stripped of his Indian Wells prize money and ranking points, though the ruling cleared him of any wrongdoing and no further action will be taken.

The manner of the ruling and the handling of the case has raised a few eyebrows, with ATP stars such as Liam Broady and Denis Shapovalov insinuating that there is a layer of protection for the highest-ranked players.

Tennis icon Evert also believes there is an extra layer of support available for the game’s biggest stars.

“I do think that they protect the top players,” said Evert, speaking as part of an ESPN preview to the US Open.

“So by protecting I mean: they’re going to keep it secret for a couple of months.

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“They’re going to keep certain things secret if you’re a top player because they don’t want the press, the players don’t want the press.

“It’s all going to come out in three months anyway. So I do think there is some protection there than if you were Joe Smith ranked 400 in the world.”

The ITIA accepted Sinner’s story that the clostebol was unwittingly transmitted via his physio, who had used a skin cream containing the substance on his own cut before making skin-to-skin contact.

While believing tennis has done a good job in stamping down on doping, Evert questioned why Sinner’s team had not learnt lessons from previous high-profile cases within the sport.

“I think tennis has done an accurate job,” added the 18-time major winner.

“My only question is the steroid clostebol, yes it was on the counter in Italy. You can buy it off the counter, so that’s just like buying aspirin off the counter.

“Still these players have teams to really examine what is in these substances.

“And I would have thought, especially since the Maria Sharapova saga, that teams would be more aware of what to look for in any substance that their players are taking.

“It’s off the counter yet it still has a steroid, which is banned. You can’t do that steroid and then it turns out to be a spray.”

2024-08-21T13:52:26Z dg43tfdfdgfd