Andy Murray's former coach, Mark Petchey, defended Jannik Sinner after the news broke out about his doping case and how the case was handled.
Sinner avoided a doping ban after the banned substance clostebol was found in his system. Although the amount was just one billionth of a gram, it still led to the 23-year-old failing the tests.
The Italian said in a statement the clostebol entered his system after his physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi purchased a product to care for a cut on his finger, not knowing the product contained the banned substance.
Naldi subsequently gave Sinner massages without wearing gloves. That caused a negligible amount of clostebol to enter a cut the Italian had, leading to the positive test and the subsequent controversy.
There has been a polarized reaction in the tennis world to the news. Some players were outraged the news had been kept quiet for so long. Denis Shapovalov, for example, felt it was unfair to other players who had their cases made public and were not allowed to play during that time.
Nick Kyrgios was even more blunt in his remarks on social media. The 2022 Wimbledon champion said Sinner should be banned for two years, and it did not matter to him whether the forbidden substance was taken deliberately or not.
However, Petchey did not agree with those sentiments. In a post on X, the Briton said he did not think Sinner was guilty and argued that all cases are different in tennis, which is not run as a socialist system.
"I don't believe Jannik Sinner is guilty. No case is ever the same and trying to make comparisons here with others is a false dichotomy. Sport, especially tennis, is a capitalist behemoth on every level. Yet, when it comes to everything else people expect it to be run as a socialist system."
Petchey also believes Sinner and his team had done nothing wrong with how they handled the situation. He said the Italian and those around him followed the rules and took the necessary steps to get the best outcome possible, which is how these cases work.
"Why do companies etc have teams of lawyers/accountants working round the clock for them? To make sure they get the best outcome. Sinner and his team followed the rules after the tests results, did everything they could do to limit the damage within the legal framework and got the best legal outcome. That's life and that's what this is."
Andy Murray's former coach also responded to a reply from an account that felt there was a double standard since the case was withheld from the public for five months. For instance, Simona Halep's case was immediately made public.
Petchey responded that the rules stated positive tests would not be made public if a player didn't accept a provisional suspension and that the situation would not be resolved until a resolution was subsequently reached.
"Per the policy, if a player didn't accept a provisional suspension, the pos. test wouldn't be made public until a resolution was reached. That's why it wasn't announced. Rules were kept legally correct."
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