dpa
Melbourne
German tennis icon Boris Becker has said that the sport’s image has been tainted by the positive doping tests of top players Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner.
“Is it bad for tennis? Yes,” said Becker in a Eurosport media round table talk ahead of Sunday’s Australian Open start.
“You have to find a sensible solution so that this doesn’t happen again. If two of the best professionals in our sport are affected, then it is damaging.” Sinner is the defending Australian Open champion and Swiatek a top contender for the women’s title.
Becker did not want to comment on the cases themselves which were only made public by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) months after the offences.
Italy’s Sinner tested positive twice in March for low levels of the anabolic agent clostebol, which can build muscle mass.
He successfully appealed against a provisional suspension and was absolved of fault and negligence by the ITIA. He said the substance accidentally entered his system via an over-the-counter product his physiotherapist had used to treat a small wound on his hand.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is appealing this ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), seeking a suspension of one or two years.
Poland’s Swiatek had to serve a one-month ban in November after a positive test for the angina medication trimetazidine. Swiatek said it was caused by contamination of a medicine she was using.
The Sinner case was not made public for five months until August, and the Swiatek case announced some three months after the positive test.
Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, former world number one Novak Djokovic and former grand slam winner Simona Halep, who has served a doping ban herself, have also voiced criticism.
The IATA has rejected the accusation of unequal treatment, stating that it had also acted in accordance with the anti-doping rules in keeping the suspensions secret.
