No mention of Iga Swiatek or Jannik Sinner – at the center of two different doping-issues – but Taylor Fritz published a long post on X in which he made his deep reflection on the topic and the (unmentioned) protagonists involved.
Here is his very harsh post:
“What drives me crazy in these situations (in terms of going on X) is not the cases themselves. It is hard to know exactly what happened and all the details in all these specific cases, so speculating is not really my favorite thing to do. It is fine to have your honest opinions but what I fail to understand and what is so shocking to see as a player is the insane bias of the tennis crowd, who will support any story they want promoted.
If it is a rival of the player you are rooting for who tests positive, then you are on the doper/cheater’s team. If it is your favorite player then he is innocent, no questions asked. How can you not be able to remove your own personal biases and form an educated and honest opinion? Even if you as a player can prove your innocence (I am not saying anyone is or isn’t), the people who support rival players are prejudiced against you and will always claim you are a cheat. And this fact makes me really sad for all the real innocent players who have to go through this,” he wrote.
We recall Jannik tested positive for Clostebon during tests carried out at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. After being cleared by an independent tribunal commissioned by ITIA, WADA appealed to CAS: the Italian risks a 1-2 year ban. Swiatek was tested positive for trimetazidine during a check in August 2024. The Polish player has already been suspended from 22 September 22 to 4 October 2024. She still has 8 days of disqualification to serve. In her case it was established that the doping substance entered her body completely involuntarily.
Tennis World USA