Alexander Zverev is currently the top ranked player able to compete on the ATP Tour while Jannik Sinner is banned.
Zverev won the BMW Open last week, enabling him to overtake Carlos Alcaraz and return to world number two.
It had been a tricky couple of months for the German, with Zverev struggling after losing the Australian Open final.
While he has been unable to take advantage of world number one Sinner’s absence, Zverev is expected to perform on clay at upcoming tournaments.
Alexander Zverev calls for change to tennis doping system
One of those upcoming tournaments is the Madrid Open, where he has twice won the title previously.
However, ahead of the Masters 1000 event in the Spanish capital, Zverev was not just questioned about his on-court preparation, but also the current anti-doping system.
Sinner has been banned for three months after accepting a plea deal from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) back in February.
The Italian is not the only big name to have suffered a ban, with Iga Swiatek also banned for a month last year.
Zverev mentioned both of these cases when discussing his own experience with anti-doping, as he called for the rules to change.
“I think it’s a subject we have been talking about more over the last half a year or so, because of Jannik and Iga a little bit,” Zverev said in his pre-tournament press conference. “In general nothing really changes for us, nothing has changed.
“It is an annoying process, I have to be honest. We have to be at a certain place every single day, where we give our details of where we are going to be for an hour of the day. But at the same time, if they show up not in the hour that we gave them, you still have to come back to that place.
“So for me for example it happened, I think it was the end of last year in December, where I was picking up my daughter from the airport in Nice and the doping control, my slot was at 7 or 8am and they came at 9pm.
“They called me, you have to come back. I was like I can’t, I am picking up a three-year-old child and they were like no you have to come back, it doesn’t matter what happens. That is more annoying because it is kind of like they are taking the freedom of life away a little bit. They are taking the freedom of, if you want to come within the hour okay, because that is the rule but after that you have to give us the freedom of living.
“Just because you decided that you wanted to show up at a random time and not in the time slot that you are given, that doesn’t mean that I have to completely change my plans and leave everything and all of a sudden be available to you. That is not right in my opinion. If I pick my daughter up from the airport, that is more important to me. That should be priority to me. That system and that anti doping system cannot decide for you that you have to leave everything and come back straight away. I think that is wrong. That system can be better and that system can change a little bit.
“But to the contamination, you have to be careful and we know that but that hasn’t changed to us – that hasn’t changed since the Iga and Jannik case. We know that and are aware of it. It’s just more the things that are around the anti-doping system that are just annoying to us and to I think anybody in the world.”
Zverev is not the only player that appears to be dissatisfied with the current doping system, as Aryna Sabalenka and Andrey Rublev have also admitted their fears.
How have the ATP rankings changed since Jannik Sinner was banned?
When Sinner was banned back in February, he led world number two Zverev by 3,965 ranking points.
Despite Zverev’s mixed form, the gap has significantly reduced down to 1,845 points and could get smaller after the Madrid Open.
Sinner has 200 ranking points to defend during the Madrid Open, compared to just 90 and 190 for Zverev and Alcaraz, respectively.
If Zverev is to win his third Madrid Open title, the gap between himself and Sinner will be just 745 points.
| ATP Ranking Points | Jannik Sinner | Alexander Zverev | Carlos Alcaraz |
| Before Sinner’s ban | 11,830 | 8,135 | 7,510 |
| After Sinner’s ban (Not including Madrid) | 9,930 | 8,085 | 8,050 |
It appears that only Zverev will be looking to close the gap at the Madrid Open, with Alcaraz expected to withdraw due to an injury he suffered in Barcelona.
All three players are expected to compete at the Italian Open, where Sinner will return, beginning on May 4.
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