The tennis world was shocked as news broke of Jannik Sinner’s three-month suspension last weekend.
World number one Sinner will serve a three-month suspension from tennis, having tested positive for the banned substance Clostebol last year.
The Italian star had already enjoyed real success in 2025, as Sinner won the Australian Open last month, taking down Alexander Zverev in the final.
Sinner will return for the French Open in May, as the timing of his ban allows him to compete in all four Major tournaments in 2025.
Some fans and players have argued that the timing of Sinner’s ban is ‘convenient’ and that he should serve a longer suspension.
Sinner was awaiting the World Anti Doping Agency’s [WADA] appeal, which may have seen him miss up to two years of action.
Instead, Sinner accepted a deal to serve just a three-month suspension, an option that hadn’t been available to several other players accused of doping.
As many suggest the Italian was the recipient of preferential treatment, one top WTA coach has now shared his thoughts on the situation as he hits out at the ‘huge scandal.’
Patrick Mouratoglou says the ATP and WTA know that the doping violation process is ‘really unfair’
Naomi Osaka’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, took to Instagram to voice his opinions on the current processes involved with doping violations.
“I don’t think it should be a private justice, because the ITIA [International Tennis Integrity Agency], it’s a private justice, they do what they want,” he said.
“It’s a parody of a tribunal.
“I think it should be a real tribunal that should judge whether the player is guilty or not, a private tribunal is not a tribunal.
“The only people that can change that is the ATP, WTA, and the ITF.
“Those people, they will never say it publicly, but they know all this, but they don’t change anything.
“They have to protect the players, and I hope the PTPA [Professional Tennis Players Assosciation], that is the Association that regroups the players, is going to fight really hard to make that change, that is really unfair to the players.”
Mouratoglou then shared his thoughts on the timing of Sinner’s three-month ban.
“During the Australian Open, we learned that Sinner will be auditioned by the World Anti Doping [WADA], in April,” he said.
“So we think, oh, it’s going to be a real tribunal that will just assess the case and decide whether he’s guilty or not.
“But right after the Australian Open, six weeks before when he was supposed to be auditioned, they took a decision after negotiating with him for a three month ban.
“So no audition, no review of the case, and a decision that is ideal for him because he could play the Australian Open and win it, and he’s going to be safe to play the next Grand Slam which is Roland Garros.
“It really sounds like they made an arrangement to look ‘okay’.
“So they banned him a little bit, but not too much so he can still play the Grand Slams.
“If you look at it, he’s going to come back to be able to play Rome just before Roland Garros, being Italian, so it looks even more like a set-up.”
Sinner’s ban ends on May 4, one day before his home Italian Open kicks off.
The French coach was, however, keen to reiterate that he didn’t think Sinner was guilty of doping.
“I think this case is a huge scandal,” said Mouratoglou.
“It’s not about him being guilty or not, the question is more about how the anti-doping dealt with the situation.
“Everybody feels that there is a double standard, which is the case clearly.
“It’s very unlikely that he did doping.
“This is really a personal statement: I don’t think it is his mindset at all, his mentality to do doping first, and second, when you find such low levels of a forbidden product in someone, in 90% of the cases, if not more, it is a contamination.
“So the player is a victim, that’s why I think he’s innocent.”
Patrick Mouratoglou questions why Simona Halep was treated differently to Jannik Sinner
Romanian star Simona Halep was banned from tennis for nine months after testing positive for Roxadustat in 2023.
Mouratoglou, Halep’s coach at the time, now details how her case was handled differently to Sinner’s.
“I’ve been very close to a case of positive control which was the case of Simona Halep because I was coaching her at that time, and it was a case that was really copy paste of Jannik Sinner’s case: contamination, extremely low quantities of something,” he said.
“The only difference is she has been controlled positive one time, he’s been controlled positive twice.
“I mean those two cases have been treated by the ITIA in a completely opposite way, which is a double standard clearly.
“The ITIA gave her a four year ban and when she ended up in a real tribunal with independent judges they decided that she was not guilty of doing doping.
“You see the difference?”
The 33-year-old’s four year ban was eventually reduced to nine months, which she had already served, freeing her up to return to tennis in 2024.
Halep won her first match since the ban at the Hong Kong Open in October last year but struggled to find form on tour.
After losing in the first round of the Transylvania Open last month, Halep retired from tennis, having won two Grand Slam titles as a professional.
A brilliant career that was perhaps unfairly tarnished by a doping ban that could’ve been handled very differently.
It remains to be seen how the ATP, WTA, and ITF handle similar situations in the future, but it seems clear that issues around consistency and double standards need to be addressed.
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