Tennis News: Casper Ruud's verdict on Jannik Sinner, and the hyperbole of Coco Gauff

The talk of Jannik Sinner failing two drug tests in March simply will not go away. To be fair, it may not ever. Sinner was deemed to be innocent by the International Tennis Integrity Agency of taking any banned substance intentionally, but since he is a popular player and also ATP No. 1, discussion around his failed tests will continue for some time.

For the most part, save for maybe Nick Kyrgios, fellow players and former players have supported Sinner through the process. He is seen as a very nice person, and that likely helps. Had Kyrgios been the one to fail the tests, he would have many more doubters. Still, the fact remains that Sinner apparently did nothing knowingly wrong.

Current ATP No. 9 Casper Ruud recently issued his verdict on the Italian's situation during an interview on TV2 Norway. Like Rafael Nadal and others, Ruud waited until he looked into all the facts before jumping to a negative conclusion about Sinner. That is the way things should be, of course, but rarely seems to happen.

Casper Ruud weighs in on Jannik Sinner and Coco Gauff gets some high praise

Ruud said, "I noticed at the start before I got into the case and the sequence of events, that I also thought there were a few owls in the bog. He is No. 1 in the world, there had to be discrimination. But then I familiarized myself with the case and the rules. If you have read the documents and understand the process in this type of case, then you understand that there is no discrimination here. What Sinner has done well, in order to defend himself, is that he managed to find an explanation within 15 days after testing positive."

In completely different news, Coco Gauff is a great player, but is she the "best athlete" ever on the WTA tour? That is what tennis commentator Mark Petchey says. He said as much in a recent talk with Bally Casino so one might wonder if there is some tie-in with Gauff.

There is little doubt that Gauff is an extremely gifted athlete. She does not win the 2023 US Open if she cannot run nearly every ball down that Aryna Sabalenka hit. But saying she is a better athlete than say, Serena Williams, smacks of false hyperbole.

Petchey said, "In my opinion, Coco Gauff is the best athlete that has ever played women’s tennis. I say this despite her serve not being as reliable as you would like it to be for somebody so great, and her forehand at times can be a little bit of a liability, which she needs to work on. Despite all this, it’s her athleticism that allows her to stay at the top."

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