Serena Williams’ former coach says whether he thinks Jannik Sinner should be banned from tennis or not

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One of tennis’ greatest coaches says whether Jannik Sinner should receive a doping ban.

Sinner has been in scintillating form on court, winning nine titles in 2024 and finishing the year as the ATP’s World number one.

But he has endured a difficult time off court, as he sweats on the outcome of an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in his doping case.

At present, this seems to be the only thing that can derail Jannik Sinner as he enters the 2025 season as the man to beat.

Does Serena Williams’ former coach think Jannik Sinner should serve a doping ban?

In March 2024 Sinner was tested positive for banned substance clostebol on two occasions. The two-time Grand Slam champion was then cleared of any wrongdoing or negligence by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).

But should WADA’s appeal be successful, Sinner could be banned for up to one or two years, which would be a huge blow to the 23-year-old.

Plenty have had their say on the matter, and now Serena Williams’ former coach Rick Macci has taken to X to share his opinion.

“Each situation is different. Not one size fits all,” he said. “The Sinner incident is documented and the explanation is understandable.

“Flamethrower should NOT be banned one second. Experts who decide fate need to breathe and see if what they have taken on purpose or mistake enhances performance.”

Jannik Sinner explains how he has been treated in the doping case

Sinner has had a tough time off the court and the fact he has managed to stay so focused on court and be as successful as he was is truly remarkable.

Going through such a high-profile situation is tough for any athlete to contend with, and Sinner described how he has been feeling during this time.

“The real difficult moment was when the news came out,” he told Sky Italia in October. “It came out in a very delicate phase because it was just before a Grand Slam [US Open].

“I had always wanted to train on Wednesday but the news came out on Tuesday and we decided it would be better not to.

“There would have been too much chaos at the club, so we went on Thursday evening because most people would have left. It was difficult to prepare for a Grand Slam like that.”