In an interview with the web show “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” the Serbian player spoke again about the matter: “It will be like the vaccine cloud for me”

“The doping issue is a cloud that will follow him, just as the Covid cloud will follow me.” Novak Djokovic speaks again about Jannik Sinner and the Clostebol case. He does so in an interview with the web program “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” which will be broadcast in full today. In the preview posted on the controversial British host’s YouTube channel, the Serbian champion can be heard responding in these blunt terms to a question on the subject. It should be noted that Djokovic has never hidden his criticism of the incident that led to the world No. 2’s three-month suspension agreed upon with WADA. Sinner’s positive test for Clostebol—attributed, according to the reconstruction, to infinitesimal traces of the substance absorbed during a bare-handed massage by his physical therapist, who had used an ointment containing the steroid to treat an injury—sparked widespread debate on the tour.

When Sinner’s case came to light, Nole denounced “a lack of standardized and clear protocols,” explaining his concerns as follows: “There are players who have been waiting for over a year for their cases to be resolved. So the problem is inconsistency and a lack of transparency. I was really frustrated, like most other players, by the fact that we were kept in the dark for five months. Most players think there’s favoritism. It seems you can almost influence the outcome if you’re a top player, if you have access to the best lawyers and certain resources.” It should be noted that the ITIA (the International Tennis Integrity Agency) has repeatedly emphasized that, in Sinner’s case, all rules and procedures were followed in accordance with the WADA Code. Now, in the interview just released, the 24-time Grand Slam champion speaks of a “cloud” that will follow Sinner for the rest of his life, drawing a (not entirely apt) parallel with the controversy sparked by his refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19, which led to his expulsion from Melbourne ahead of the 2022 Australian Open.