Novak Djokovic has warned Jannik Sinner that his three-month doping ban will hang over him like a “cloud” – and questioned the timing of the sanction last year.
Sinner served a three-month ban in February 2025 after the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) accepted his explanation that a banned anabolic steroid, clostebol, entered his system accidentally.
In an interview on Piers Morgan: Uncensored on YouTube, Djokovic said: “That cloud will follow him just as the cloud of Covid will follow me, for the rest of his, or my career in this case.
“It’s just something that, it was so major, and when that happens, over time it will fade, but I don’t think it will disappear. There’s always going to be a certain group of people that will always try to bring that forward.”
Djokovic said he believed that Sinner, a regular practice partner, “didn’t do it on purpose”, but he went on to question how the Italian managed to serve his time without missing a grand slam.
“There is the lack of transparency, the inconsistency, 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,” added Djokovic.
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“I really don’t like how the case was being handled and you could hear so many other players, both male and female, who had some similar situations coming out in the media and complaining that it was a preferable treatment.”
