The tennis star has warned Jannik Sinner that his three-month ban for doping will linger over his career as a constant shadow – and raised doubts about the scheduling of the sanction in the previous season.
The Italian player served a three-month suspension in February 2025 after the global anti-doping body accepted his explanation that a prohibited performance-enhancing substance, clostebol, had been ingested unintentionally.
"That cloud will follow him just as the cloud of Covid will follow me, for the rest of his, or my career," the champion remarked in a discussion on a popular YouTube program.
"It is a situation where, it was so significant, and after such events, over time it will fade, but I don't think it will disappear. There will inevitably exist a specific segment of individuals that will continually reference the incident."
Djokovic expressed belief that Sinner, his frequent training companion, "didn't do it on purpose", but he then scrutinized how the player arranged to complete his ban without sitting out any major tournaments.
"There is the lack of transparency, the irregularity, the convenience [of] the ban coming between the slams, so he doesn't miss out the others – it's just it was very, very odd," Djokovic added.
"I really don't like how the situation was managed and you could hear so many other players, both male and female, who had comparable circumstances coming out in the media and asserting it represented favorable handling."
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