Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek claimed maiden titles at Wimbledon, less than a year after they both served suspensions for doping breaches, and that is problematic for tennis
Tennis has an image problem after Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek triumphed at Wimbledon, according to Jamie Murray. Sinner and Swiatek claimed maiden singles titles at the All England Club less than a year after serving doping suspensions, reigniting a debate about how their cases were handled.
Swiatek demolished Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 before Sinner overcame Carlos Alcaraz in a four-set match the following day. It was Swiatek’s sixth Grand Slam title and Sinner’s fourth and with the duo 24 and 23 years old respectively, they are likely to dominate the sport for years to come.
That poses a potential problem for tennis, given their recent misdemeanours. Swiatek served a one-month suspension last year after testing positive for trimetazidine (TMZ), a drug normally used as heart medication for its ability to enhance blood flow, while Sinner failed two drug tests after banned steroid clostebol was found in his system.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency accepted Swiatek’s explanation that a batch of melatonin, a supplement she uses to manage jet lag, had become contaminated with TMZ. Her short ban was because the ITIA put her at the bottom of their “no significant fault or negligence” range.
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Sinner claimed the presence of clostebol, which is a steroid that can be used to build muscle mass, was the result of contamination from his physio, who had been using a spray to treat a cut on his own hand. Nick Kyrgios has been among those to voice their concerns about the process and seven-time doubles Grand Slam champion Murray agrees.
“It’s not a great look, right? The two champions of potentially the most prestigious tennis event having served doping bans,” he told Mirror Sport.
“It’s more just the fact that it’s not announced straight away that this is what’s going on, so then of course people think there are cover-ups and conspiracy theories are going all over the place. Maybe I’m naive. I don’t want to believe that people are cheating and trying to get an edge. I don’t really want to think that about the sport that I’m in.
“I’m sure there will always be people that will try to bend rules and stuff but, the thing with tennis is it’s such a skilled sport. If I started taking drugs tomorrow it’s not like I’m suddenly going to be number one in the world. Of course, for those guys who are already at the top, like every little gain can make a big difference but I don’t know. To be honest, I try not to think about it and to stress myself about it.
“Only they know if they did right or wrong, but I think it’s probably not the best look. Stuff happens and if they’re innocent then they obviously deserve to be out there competing. They served the suspensions that the relative authorities set for them. That’s that. You have to move on and keep competing.
“The tour goes on, the show goes on, but it’s not ideal having the number one athletes in men’s and women’s tennis both getting caught out with doping stuff. It’s a shame. But I don’t know in the larger picture how much effect that’s having on them or on the sport.”
Murray is still competing on the doubles circuit at the age of 39 and has no plans to retire, with the love of competing still burning bright. Things didn’t go to plan at Wimbledon, where he suffered two first-round exits with Rajeev Ram and Emily Appleton, but the Scot recently earned himself a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
He and fellow Brit Laura Robson managed a rally of 101 shots while strapped to the roof of a car travelling up to 29mph down an airfield runway. “It was a cool experience and obviously not something I’d ever done before so I didn’t really quite know what to expect,” Murray said.
“We had to figure out how best to do it because we’re both left-handed, so naturally you would hit forehand to forehand, but that means one of us would have to hit backwards against the direction the car is moving, so we had to figure that out. But I guess we did a decent job.”
Jamie Murray and Laura Robson broke a Guinness World record by completing a rally of 101 consecutive shots as the Lexus NX became the latest court for the stars to play on.