During an interview with Match TV in which he also spoke about the fact that women should not be paid the same as men in Slams, former world number 3 Nikolay Davydenko returned to talk about Jannik Sinner’s doping case, also recalling his own story.
It should be remembered that Davydenko – who has never played a Slam final – was beaten in the semi-finals of Roland Garros 2005 by Mariano Puerta, with the Argentine then testing positive for doping after losing the final against Rafael Nadal, who on that occasion won his first of 14 titles in Paris.
Davydenko talked about the well-known Clostebol case involving the Italian, but in this case he analyzed, with great honesty:
“Sinner is playing very well, he has been doing very well for a long time. I like his tactics on the court, it is not a question of doping. I saw him in 2019, since then compared to now the differences are notable. Jannik has started to play differently, his tactics have changed seriously. Half of the tennis players today say that they win thanks to doping. I don’t think so.
So should I shout that Puerta beat me thanks to doping at Roland Garros in 2005? I was physically dead and he wasn’t, but I don’t know if doping helped him win. I have no intention of shouting to the press and the whole world that he is bad, but rather I will admit my guilt and my mistake in training and preparation.”
Sinner© Stream screenshot
While Yevgeny Kafelnikov has expressed his opinions very harshly on several occasions, Davidenko, two-time semifinalist at the French Open and two-time semifinalist at the US Open, has decidedly different ideas. The former world number 3 in the ATP ranking, in a recent interview with the Russian media Championat, stated that tennis is tennis and you will never become number 1 thanks to doping.
“You go to the pharmacy, take a pill for the bronchi and there is salbutamol, which is considered doping. You always have to go to a sports doctor, it’s such an absurdity. You won’t become a better player by taking a pill.
Tennis is tennis, you won’t become number one in the world thanks to doping. It used to be easier to regulate doping. We were also pressured, but we perceived it as normal. I didn’t worry much, I drank and ate everywhere without even thinking about possible consequences in this sense. Today the situation has worsened,” he said at the time.
Tennis World USA