Serena Williams, one of many best gamers in tennis historical past, mentioned that if she had failed drug assessments like males’s world No. 1 Jannik Sinner did final 12 months, she would have been banned for 20 years and stripped of her Grand Slam titles.
Sinner accepted a three-month ban in February after reaching an settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency, which had appealed an impartial tribunal’s resolution to clear him following two optimistic assessments for the anabolic agent clostebol.
“I love the guy, love this game,” Williams, who retired in 2022 after successful 23 Grand Slam titles, informed Time journal. “He’s nice for the game. I’ve been put down a lot, I do not wish to convey anybody down. Men’s tennis wants him.
“(But) if I did that, I would have gotten 20 years. Let’s be honest. I would have gotten Grand Slams taken away from me.”
Reuters has contacted Sinner’s crew and WADA for remark.
Reigning Australian Open and U.S. Open champion Sinner, whose ban ends on May 4, has at all times maintained his innocence, although his case raised questions on whether or not he had obtained preferential therapy from authorities.
Iga Swiatek’s case additionally brought about shock when the ladies’s world No. 2 accepted a one-month suspension in November after testing optimistic for the banned substance trimetazidine.
Former world No. 1 Simona Halep was additionally banned, regardless of denying knowingly taking the banned drug roxadustat. Her four-year suspension was decreased to 9 months in 2024 after an attraction at sport’s highest court docket.
Williams additionally mentioned she took further care with what she put into her physique throughout her profession, conscious of avoiding substances that might get her into bother.
Source: www.dailysabah.com