Daria Kasatkina doesn't agree with claims that double standards were involved in the handling of the Jannik Sinner doping situation as the Russian believes the Italian being in a position to hire a group of top lawyers ultimately made the difference.
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When it was announced that the ATP world No. 1 twice tested positive for Clostebol in March - a prohibited anabolic steroid - and avoided suspension, one of the first questions that many asked was how he avoided being provisionally suspended during the investigation. While the ITIA explained in their statement that the 23-year-old was able to quickly determine how a banned substance got into his system and prove that it didn't happen intentionally or knowingly, the backlash didn't end there as some argued that there were cases of a player testing positive and being suspended but cleared to return to action after the investigation ended.
But in Sinner's case, he avoided both a provisional ban and also a long-term ban.
Since the Italian is currently the top-ranked player in the game and the face of men's tennis, some went as far as to accuse the ITIA and ATP doing everything they could to cover up the 23-year-old's case.
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Nick Kyrgios, one of the most outspoken critics of the case, instantly labeled the entire situation as "ridiculous" and called for a ban. When the news was released, Denis Shapovalov also wrote on X that there are "different rules for different players."
However, it should be noted there was also a good number of people who accepted the explanation and sided with Sinner, including WTA world No. 12 Kasatkina.
"That part, you asked if I believed he was innocent and I do. Double standards? Jannik is able to hire the best lawyers, people who will have it all figured out. That's undoubtedly his advantage. I have an Italian coach and he knows other incidents that we are not aware of," the Russian tennis star said during her conversation for YouTube channel TNNS.
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Kasatkina: Why it keeps happening in Italy...
The seven-time WTA champion says she had heard about some other cases from Italy - specifically another male and one female player - testing positive for the same prohibited substance. With that being said, the Russian is posing a logical question and asking who keeps delivering a product that is contained with a banned drug.
In Sinner's case, he tested positive after his now-former physio Giacomo Naldi used an over-the-counter spray to treat a cut.
"There were two more players from Italy, female and male, who were caught with the same drug. The girl didn't get away because she didn't know where she had gotten it from...The dose, the drug yeah. I can't remember the names, I don't know those people. And the guy did know, and in the course of 24 days he provided proof. And he continued playing, so that was a similar case. On the other hand I don't get why they keep getting caught with the same thing in Italy. That I don't know, but I do believe it's possible because to get caught like that is really silly," Kasatkina said.
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What Sinner and his coach Darren Cahill said?
A couple of days before the start of the US Open, the Italian's coach hit back at the allegations that the world No. 1 was cleared just because he was a major star in the game. When addressing that, coach Cahill underlined that they were able to hire the best lawyers but also highlighted that the investigation determined that his pupil bore no fault or negligence for what happened.
He would never do anything intentionally. He was in an unfortunate situation. The truth is out, no fault or negligence, and hopefully he can put this behind him. The reason why it was possible for him to continue playing after the short provisional suspension is that they were able to locate precisely where the incident occurred and they were able to explain what happened with the spray," Cahill said on ESPN.
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Despite the situation drawing very negative attention on the 23-year-old, he still managed to mentally focus on tennis and win his second Grand Slam title at the US Open.
I don't know. You have to ask all the other players. This, I don't know. Well, that what I can say is that the general reaction of the players was quite positive, even when things came out. Then there have been, of course, some different voices, but this is in everything. This is not only in tennis. This is in other sports and different jobs also," Sinner said when asked how he felt about his triumph considering the circumstances.
