Spain’s
Carlos Alcaraz has made his first comments after the
suspension of Italy’s
Jannik Sinner. The young Spaniard is often regarded as
one of the best players currently playing in men’s tennis in the singles category, along with the likes of the reigning world number one Sinner.
Alcaraz has been recently quoted in a report where he made
his first comments after reports emerged about his suspension following an
agreement with
WADA, which will see him miss three months of action following a
positive dope test. The reigning world number three stated that he does not have much to say about the suspension of the reigning world number one as his focus is on doing things to improve his game.
"There is not much to say about the sanction," he
said while talking to Spanish daily AS. "But whether Jannik plays or not,
we try to do well in every tournament, because first place is a goal. Right
now, as always, we try to focus on what we need to improve, and from there we
will do our best in the tournaments to try to get closer to first place."
Sinner has been in the news for the wrong reasons after
being tested positive for banned substances on two occasions in March last
year. Interestingly, he managed to escape a ban after the International Tennis
Integrity Agency (ITIA) declared him innocent following a detailed hearing
where his counsel claimed that the substance was available in the player’s
sample because one member of the coaching staff had received a cream for the
treatment of an injury.
Things turned ugly for the world number one in October last
year when it was announced that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed
against the ITIA’s verdict in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and
demanded a two-year ban for the three-time Grand Slam winner. However, the
issue finally came to a conclusion on Saturday as WADA announced that they had
reached an agreement with Sinner, which will result in the player remaining out
of action for three months.
“The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirms that it has
entered into a case resolution agreement in the case of Italian tennis player
Jannik Sinner, with the player accepting a three-month period of ineligibility
for an anti-doping rule violation that led to him testing positive for
clostebol, a prohibited substance, in March 2024,” the statement said.