"Why are we banning Jannik Sinner? He didn't cheat"- Andrea Petkovic bluntly rejects 'preferential treatment' criticism against Italian in doping row

Former WTA pro Andrea Petkovic and Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs recently gave their thoughts on Jannik Sinner accepting a three-month doping suspension from WADA. The German believes there is a lot of "nuance" to the World No. 1's case. Moreover, she suggested that the anti-doping outfit may have handed him a ban to set an example for the rest of the tennis pros.

Last week, WADA came out with the news that they had handed Sinner a ban for his two failed doping tests from March 2024. While it concluded that the Italian hadn't 'intended to cheat', and that the amount of the banned substance clostebol in his system at the time of testing wasn't substantial enough to enhance performance, the 23-year-old will still not be allowed to compete on the ATP Tour from February to early May.

Andrea Petkovic and Rennae Stubbs weren't happy with WADA's ruling as they discussed Jannik Sinner's three-month ban on the latter's podcast titled "The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast". The former World No. 9 German inferred that while many in the tennis universe feel that the World No. 1 had "negotiated" a deal for himself, the fact that he is facing time on the sidelines regardless was directly at odds with that idea.

"I think it has nuance, this is a political decision, nobody is happy with it, yes there was negotiation but there was nuance when they (WADA) decided he (Jannik Sinner) didn't cheat, they didn't know who he was. Now, they know who he was and that's why he was able to negotiate," Andrea Petkovic said on the latest episode of Rennae Stubbs' podcast [22:52]. "Because if WADA messes up on this one with Jannik Sinner, who was the No. 1 player in the world, won multiple Grand Slams, everyone in the world is talking about it."

"In the beginning he didn't have preferential treatment and now he has. Although, I will say is it preferential treatment? He did get banned! Something everyone agrees on he didn't do," she added [23:35]. "Why are we banning the kid? This kid didn't cheat, we believe his story, why are we banning him?"

"I think because they realized if they let this slide, every player from now on will say, 'But it was a member of my team.' And then they are in real s**t," she said [21:40].

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Serena Williams' former coach Rennae Stubbs gives verdict on Jannik Sinner doping case: "There's so much ambiguity in the s**t that WADA's saying"

Jannik Sinner has already won three Major titles in his career (Source: Getty)

Rennae Stubbs, meanwhile, directed her criticism towards WADA and its operations while expressing sympathy towards Jannik Sinner, who has faced an influx of negative publicity since testing positive for clostebol last year.

"Don't say he 'negotiated'. Could he have negotiated? Yeah, absolutely because there's so much ambiguity in the s**t that WADA was saying. You're just like, 'Okay, it's the ruling.' You should've made that ruling seven months ago," Rennae Stubbs said [21:00]. "The guy's gone on to win two Majors since the initial findings and now you wanna suspend him?"

"It's f***ing embarassing. And I feel badly for him because now everyone is saying, 'Well, he conveniently got this.' Well, not really, this is WADA's problem, their fault for putting themselves and him in this situation."

Sinner will miss a large majority of this year's European claycourt season due to his ban. The Italian's World No. 1 position will likely not come under threat in his absence, as he currently sits at a mammoth tally of 11,330 points in the ATP rankings.