Two much dope talk!

Itrsquos a topic that shadowed tennis in 2024 and is still a talking point as the 2025 Grand Slam season opens at the Australian Open on Sunday mdash the doping cases involving Jannik Sinner and Iga SwiatekBoth spent much of last year at No 1 and Sinner still will hold that spot at this Australian Open one of two major trophies he won over the past 12 monthsNegative commentsSwiatek a fivetime Slam champ and the woman leading the WTA rankings most of the past three seasons is currently No 2 behind Aryna Sabalenka ldquoObviously there will be some negative comments Yoursquore not going to avoid thatrdquo Swiatek saidMost current players prefer to remain silent when asked about the cases but there are those who have spoken including 24time major champion Novak Djokovic raising questions about whether Sinner and Swiatek were treated the same as other players facing similar circumstances and why their situations were kept under wraps for monthsAlso ReadDjoko handed tough draw Nagal faces Czech MachacldquoI sit and wonder Why such a big difference in treatment and judgment I canrsquot find and I donrsquot think there can be a logical answerrdquo was twotime major champion Simona Haleprsquos reaction to Swiatekrsquos punishment Halep initially was banned for four years after testing positive for the banned drug Roxadustat at the 2022 US Open She had that penalty reduced to nine months on appeal although she already had been off the tour longer than thatNo one has been louder about the subject lately than Nick Kyrgios the 2022 Wimbledon runnerup who missed nearly all of the past two seasons due to injuries ldquoItrsquos been handled horrifically in our sport Two World No 1s both getting done for doping is disgusting for our sport Itrsquos a horrible lookrdquo Kyrgios said at the Brisbane InternationalSinner in top formSinner dominated last year and therersquos little reason to think that wonrsquot continue In 2024 he went 736 with eight titles including at US Open and led Italy to the Davis Cup He heads into the Australian Open on a 14match winning streak Hanging over it all is this Two positive tests for a trace of an anabolic steroid in March were made public in August the International Tennis Integrity Agency ITIA felt he shouldnrsquot be suspended because the exposure to Clostebol was considered accidental mdash the result of a massage from a trainer who used the substance after cutting his own finger The World AntiDoping Agency was not convinced about the exoneration and thinks a ban of one to two years would be appropriate Its appeal lodged in September is still pending and a final determination is expected after the Australian Open endsMeanwhile Swiatek accepted a onemonth suspension in November after testing positive for banned heart medication TMZ She failed an outofcompetition test in August and the ITIA accepted her explanation that it was caused by the contamination of a nonprescription medication melatonin she was taking for jet lag and sleeping issues Swiatek missed three tournaments although the real reason wasnrsquot revealed at the time mdash and finished serving her punishment after the season was doneThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever