Serena Williams reacts to Jannik Sinner's three-month drugs ban - 'I would have got 20 years'
ByOli Gent
Published 17/04/2025 at 09:49 GMT+1
Former women's world No. 1 Serena Williams said that if she had failed a drugs test in a similar vein to that of Jannik Sinner, then she would have "gotten 20 years" worth of suspension, rather than the three months that the current men's No. 1 received. The Italian tested positive for clostebol in March 2024, but was able to negotiate a more lenient punishment with the ITIA.
Serena Williams habla sobre Jannik Sinner, su influencia en el tenis y su sanción
Image credit: Getty Images
Serena Williams has said that had she failed a drugs test like Jannik Sinner, she would have "gotten 20 years" suspension.
Sinner, who tops the ATP world rankings, is currently out of action, serving a three-month ban after he returned two positive drugs tests.
The Italian tested positive for clostebol, a performance-enhancing drug, in March 2024, and agreed to a three-month ban from tennis after the International Tennis Integrity Agency found that the three-time Grand Slam champion was not at fault for his positive test.
Sinner is the reigning Australian Open and US Open champion, and is set to return from his ban at the Italian Open in Rome, which begins on May 7.
Now Williams, the 23-time major winner, has had her say on Sinner’s suspension, but the American claimed that the Italian had been given a more lenient punishment than she would have received, had she returned a positive test.
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In an interview with Time magazine, Williams said of Sinner: "Fantastic personality. I love the guy, I love this game. He’s great for the sport.
"I’ve been put down so much, I don’t want to bring anyone down. Men’s tennis needs him.
"If I did that [tested positive for doping], I would have gotten 20 years. Let’s be honest. I would have gotten Grand Slams taken away from me."
The former women’s world No. 1 jested that she would have been "jailed" had she found herself in the middle of a performance-enhancing drug fiasco, and she expressed her support for Maria Sharapova, who was banned for two years in 2016 after she tested positive for meldonium.
Tennis authorities deemed Sharapova’s doping to have been unintentional - like Sinner - but handed her a harsher punishment, although the Russian was able to reduce her ban to 15 months with a successful appeal.
"Just weirdly and oddly, I can’t help but think about Maria all this time," Williams said. "I can’t help but feel for her."
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Novak Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam champion, suggested that Sinner had been shown "favouritism" throughout the process back in February, when Sinner’s ban came into force.
"A majority of the players don’t feel that it’s fair," Djokovic said.
"A majority of the players feel like there is favouritism happening. It seems like it appears that you can almost affect the outcome if you are a top player, if you have access to the top lawyers."
Tennis has been a sport plagued with world No. 1s returning positive drugs tests, with Iga Swiatek serving a one-month ban for trimetazidine in 2024, while former world No 1 Simona Halep was given four years after testing positive for roxadustat.
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