Tennis News: Aryna Sabalenka, Jannik Sinner and the ITIA

Aryna Sabalenka recently captured the trophy at the Cincinnati Open. In doing so, she moved back into No. 2 on the WTA and confirmed her status as one of the most difficult players to defeat on a hard court. She certainly should be one of the favorites to win the US Open.

Sabalenka still trailed top-ranked Iga Swiatek by about 2,600 points but the Belarusian is 1,300 points clear on No. 3 Coco Gauff. Plus, Gauff won the US Open last year and will have 2,000 points to defend in New York. Sabalenka was the runner-up in 2023.

For winning the Cincinnati Open, though, Sabalenka received $523,485. The men's winner, Jannik Sinner, won $1,049,460. In other words, Sabalenka won less than half of what the men's winner got. This would not be the case at any of the majors as men's and women's winners get the same amount for winning.

Aryna Sabalenka rightfully complains and Jannik Sinner and the ITIA have a conflict of interest

Sinner is an excellent young player, but women's players, especially the top end of the WTA and especially Sabalenka and Gauff, put butts in the seats too. People are showing up to watch them play nearly as much as Sinner if not the same amount. The women deserve to make as much as the men do when winning events.

Sabalenka told the media after winning in Cincinnati, "From the TV point of view, from the ticket selling, from every point of view, it’s unfair. Of course, guys are always going to be physically stronger than women but it doesn’t mean we’re not working as hard as they do. Women deserve to be paid an equal amount of money that men do." She's right.

Speaking of Sinner, he was recently not banned from tennis even though he failed two drug tests in March. Some might have thought this was wrong because Simona Halep seems to also have ingested a banned substance unintentionally in 2022 and she was almost immediately banned for four years. Things don't seem equal or fair.

There is another issue that has popped up with the Sinner hearing with the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). One of the lawyers defended Sinner at his hearing on whether he should be suspended is also a client for the ITIA. This means suspending Sinner might have caused his attorney, Jamie Singer, to be upset with the ITIA and maybe he ended his services with the ITIA.

That is just a guess, of course, but either way, there is definitely a conflict of interest with the Sinner case. We likely have not heard the end of the issue with Sinner not getting suspended.

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