Roger Federer weighs in on Jannik Sinner situation

Jannik Sinner failed two drug tests in March and was not disciplined. He did have to give up some money and rankings points for Indian Wells, but that was only because his case was being reviewed after he tested positive at the event. Still, that is just another issue with how tennis reviews failed tests.

If Sinner was truly innocent of intentionally doing anything wrong, which he was by the International Tennis Integrity Agency, then he should not have to lose any points or money. He should be allowed to get that back because he did nothing wrong. Of course, other people are upset that he was not immediately suspended as others, such as Simona Halep, have been in the same situation.

Rafael Nadal weighed in on Sinner's dilemma earlier this week saying that the Italian had been proven innocent by the ITIA and that was all the proof needed by the Spaniard to know Sinner was not intentionally taking anything. Nadal also said he knew Sinner from the tour and understood him to be a stand-up guy.

Roger Federer speaks out about Jannik Sinner's failed drug test situation

That last part is important, of course. Nadal knows Sinner and would be able to judge his character first-hand. Others commenting that Sinner should have been immediately banned for two years might not know him and are only judging the case on how tennis officials have handled cases in the past. That makes sense as well, however.

Roger Federer has also sounded off on the Sinner situation. Speaking on the Today program this week during the US Open, Federer mirrored Nadal's thoughts on Sinner's character, but the Swiss also understood some have a right to be upset by the process.

Federer said, "It’s not something we want to see in our sport, these types of news, regardless if he did something or not, or any player did. I understand it’s a tricky situation...I understand the frustration of, ‘Has he been treated the same as others?’ And I think this is where it comes down to. I think we all trust pretty much that Jannik didn’t do anything, but the inconsistency potentially that he didn’t have to sit out while they weren’t 100 percent sure what was going on, I think that’s the question here that needs to be answered."

That last part should be fairly damning to tennis officials as, ultimately, they are the ones under the most scrutiny at this point. Their process did seem to differ from previous cases, such as Halep's. They likely did not want to have any prejudice on behalf of Sinner, but it looks like they did. The bottom line is tennis needs to have a clearer process for failed drug tests and be more open about that process.

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