"If there was anything illegal in the drink, he would test positive for it" - McEnroe on Djokovic's mysterious drink
ATP
Patrick McEnroe hit out against the narratives that Novak Djokovic could be using anything illegal to enhance his performance. Those appeared after his semi-final match at the 2022 Paris Masters.
Djokovic took on Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in the French capital. It was a proper three-set battle, which the Serbian player ended up winning 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(4).
However, while thousands around the world watched the two compete on the court, some eagle-eyed fans also noticed something else that happened during their match.
The 21-time Grand Slam champion's coaching team prepared a drink for him during the match. They were in the stands, and when they noticed that they were being filmed while preparing the drink, the team started being very secretive.
Some fans immediately jumped to conclusions, accusing Djokovic and his team of doing something illegal.
However, there were also those who tried explaining that, like on the court, off the court, the Serbian tries to gain an advantage over his opponents as well. Therefore, he could have some special drink that helps him in certain situations, which doesn't have to be illegal. He just doesn't want others to know about it.
However, despite many different opinions, the only fact remains that Djokovic has never tested positive for a banned substance. Therefore, it can be expected that everything done during that mysterious moment was completely legal.
Former ATP player Patrick McEnroe also spoke about it during a recent episode of his Holding Court with Patrick McEnroe podcast when he brought up Simona Halep's positive doping test to illustrate how easy it is to recognize a banned substance today.
"As we found out recently with Simona Halep testing positive, these players are getting tested all the time. So if there was anything illegal in the drinks that they were mixing, which they do for them all the time during matches, it's likely that he would test positive for it."
