‘Bet my life on it, Jannik (Sinner) never wanted to cheat' – Rafael Nadal supports world no.1 tennis player over doping scandal
Rafael Nadal has defended Jannik Sinner over the doping scandal that had resulted in three-month suspension for the world no.1 tennis player.
'I've said it several times: I'm totally convinced that Jannik never wanted to cheat or do anything illicit. I'd bet my life on it. There's always a lot of fuss about this kind of thing, and when it happens, it's bad for everyone. For him, who, I think, has been through an ordeal for a year. Obviously for tennis, this kind of thing is negative,' Nadal told the French newspaper L'equipe.
'After that, if you question everything in life, you can question everything. All I'm saying is that I trust Jannik. But just as I trust Jannik, I also trust the law. I don't like to give my opinion on things I don't know. So I understand that when the courts make decisions, it's because they have all the necessary information that we don't have. So I don't like to see other players talking about it, without having the information. The people who have it, throughout the whole process, are the ones who have to make the decisions and judge the facts.
'I really don't believe that, because Jannik is number 1 in the world, he would have been treated differently. I don't believe in that. For twenty years, I've undergone all the controls, which are very numerous every year. I know how strict they are. If decisions have been taken in Jannik's favor, excusing him, saying he's not guilty, it's because the court that had to analyze the facts had all the evidence and all the arguments to take that decision. And we don't have all that. For me, it's a way of creating confusion and it seems unfair,' Nadal said.
Sinner had previously escaped a ban when the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) ruled that he wasn't at fault for the positive tests, accepting that the contamination was caused by a physio applying an over-the-counter spray. But the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) subsequently lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), leading to Sinner accepting a suspension from February 9 to May 4.
Recently, Serena Williams had said she would have been banned for '20 years' and 'gotten grand slams taken away' if the same thing had happened to her. She did, though, describe Sinner as a 'fantastic personality' and 'great for the sport.'
Nadal has thrown his weight behind Sinner. 'He's had an impressive year and a half. He was very solid in the game, very focused, but he was also able to maintain emotional stability, which was very difficult. He showed great maturity.'
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