Jannik Sinner's doping case being appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has caused controversy, and the three-time US Open champion Kim Clijsters feels the decision is harsh.
Sinner and his millions of fans in Italy and worldwide hoped the saga was over when the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) cleared him of wrongdoing, meaning he avoided a ban.
However, WADA concluded that Sinner bore more fault than the ITIA determined and is seeking a ban of between one and two years for this year's US Open champion.
WADA did not dispute Sinner's explanation that the banned substance clostebol entered his system without his knowledge after messages from his physiotherapist but felt the Italian should not be fully absolved of blame for that situation occurring.
There has been a polarized reaction in the tennis world to WADA's move. An Italian great insisted that his compatriot was innocent of any wrongdoing, while Nick Kyrgios, a critic of Sinner since the story first broke, took another dig at him after WADA's decision.
Clijsters commented on Andy Roddick's podcast that she thinks WADA's appeal is harsh. The Belgian also felt that way about Simona Halep's doping case, which saw her ultimately suspended for nine months, reduced from the initial four years upon appeal.
"I think that my first kind of feeling and an opinion about it is that it sounds very harsh but again, this is how I also felt with Simona [Halep]. I think the rule, like you described it, you have 48 hours to find what the issue is but then to me there's also."
"I was always very cautious but you have to understand, think about putting myself in that situation, I’m not in control of what my trainer would have done."
The four-time Grand Slam singles champion feels there needs to be an understanding that banned substances can enter players' systems through multiple sources without their knowledge, pointing to an example from South America.
"There’s so many things, like we’ve had players that tested positive because they ate a steak in South America. Like try to rewind, that’s kind of where did that come from and so if there’s so many ways and routes that this all can go and not one case is the same."
"I do think that there needs to be an understanding for situations..I’m sure there have been and there are probably players who were doing things wrong and they will get caught."
Clijsters also believes what Sinner is going through right now should be considered more by some people. Having this situation hanging over him until the verdict for the appeal is given is a challenging situation.
"But when it is in situations like the ones that we've mentioned, I do feel like the human side of it needs to be addressed, like what does this do to Jannik's mental state of mind."
"People just think you’re like a robot and you go out there playing and everything seems fine and to me, I also feel like they are not taken into consideration enough."
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