The tennis world was shocked to learn that Jannik Sinner and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) reached a resolution agreement on Saturday, where Sinner accepted a three-month ban for his failed drug tests in March 2024.

After months of drama, WADA and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) reached the same conclusion: Sinner did not mean to cheat and was inadvertently contaminated without his knowledge.

The decision marks the conclusion of one of the biggest storylines in tennis over the past several months. Unfortunately, it has only exacerbated player’s feelings that the drug-testing system is broken.

The WTA’s top players were asked about Sinner’s situation at the Media Day press conference for the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

David Kane of Tennis was on the scene and reported what each player said. They all struck a similar tone – they do not trust the system and are extremely paranoid about contamination.

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka explained how she was being more careful, “Before, I wouldn’t care and leave my glass of water to go to the bathroom at a restaurant. Now, I’m not going to drink from the same glass of water.”

Sabalenka added, “I believe you have to be over-protective of all the stuff that’s around you. You become too scared of the system. I don’t see how I can trust it.”

She even joked, “Sometimes I ask my team to order food for me just to be sure. I don’t feel safe anymore.”

Coco Guaff went as far as to say that she avoids taking almost any medication. “Me personally, I’m not on any supplements or vitamins. I only take Advil because I get scared to take medicine. But I definitely think the process needs to be a bit more up-to-date.”

Gauff recounted a story of dealing with a sickness without supplements, “I remember one time I was, like, sick, I didn’t know what I could take. I got a response two or three days later. At that point, I don’t need it.”

Iga Swiatek, who failed a drug test last year and quietly served a one-month ban, said, “I trust that the process at the end went fair. We did all we needed, and we followed the instructions, so there was no space and no point for WADA to appeal even, I would say.”

Swiatek concluded, “From the beginning, I knew that this was a contamination. The whole period when I was suspended was just, for me, something pretty unreal and something I couldn’t understand. But this is how it works.”

World No. 5 Jessica Pegula did not mince words, “The process just seems to be completely like not a process. It seems to just kind of be whatever decisions and factors they take into consideration, and they just kind of make up their own ruling. I don’t really understand how that’s fair for athletes, how it’s fair for players when there’s just so much inconsistency and you have no idea.

Pegula continued, “We get these emails of it all explaining this is why this happened, this is why that happened… There’s always just an explanation of all these extreme or weird circumstances and cases.”

Pegula concluded, “If you’re clean or not, the process is completely broken. I think it needs to be seriously looked at and considered. I feel like they have so much power to ruin someone’s career, as well. I think there needs to be something done about that because it just seems really unfair.”

Unfortunately for the WTA and its player, this is a debate that will not go away anytime soon. The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships will run from February 16-22.

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