NOVAK DJOKOVIC says Jannik Sinner’s drugs ban is a “cloud that will follow him” throughout his career.
The Serbian, 38, talks about the Italian tennis superstar in an exclusive interview on the Piers Morgan Uncensored show, which will air on YouTube on Tuesday November 11.
In March 2024, Sinner twice tested positive for prohibited substance clostebol, an anabolic steroid, but denied he had intentionally tried to enhance his performance.
The world No.1 blamed the presence of it in his system on a bare-handed massage given by his physiotherapist, who was later sacked.
He was initially cleared of doping last August by an independent tribunal, who determined he bore “no fault or negligence”.
In February 2025, it was announced Sinner, 24, had agreed a three-month doping suspension with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Serve it up
Sabalenka jets to the Maldives to ‘drink tequila’ after breaking down in tears
DEALS
Best free bets and betting sign-up offers for November 2025
This compromise meant the case would not be heard at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland where drug busters had initially wanted a ban of between one and two years.
It was a timely suspension – he did not have to miss any of the four majors this calendar year – and this raised many eyebrows inside and outside of the sport.
Some feel he had the money to hire the best lawyers to fight his case, when those lower down the rankings would not have had the chance to agree a deal.
Yet his fellow countrymen and women love him no matter what and the suspension did not affect his tennis – he is, after all, the reigning Australian Open and Wimbledon champion.
Djokovic knows what it is like to suffer reputational damage, having refused to take the Covid jabs in 2020 and 2021.
Infamously, he was deported from Melbourne in January 2022 when he arrived there for the Australian Open.
Aussie immigration officials were not impressed he had turned up without having had the jabs, something that drew criticism from the likes of Morgan.
And State bigwigs shunted him into a detention hotel before he was booted out of the country.
In a teaser clip released ahead of the online show, the former newspaper editor turned TV broadcaster asked: “On Sinner, is there a cloud over him about the drugs thing?”
Djokovic replied: “That cloud will follow him as the cloud of Covid will follow me. You should ask him.”
The 24-time Grand Slam champion, who is not playing in this week’s ATP Finals in Turin despite winning the recent Hellenic Championship in Athens, has yet to confirm when he will retire from the sport.
But he is set to return to the tennis courts in the New Year for the 2026 Aussie Open.
Read the full article here
