For the entire tennis world, the most exciting recent event is the suspension of men's current world No. 1 Sinner, who was supposed to hold a hearing in April, was banned early and shortened from the original scheduled one year to three months.

Before the US Open last year, Sinner was revealed to have been detected with a chlorotestosterone metabolite in Indian Wells in March, and tested positive again a week later, causing an uproar in the tennis world. First of all, the focus is of course on Sinner, who takes banned drugs, as the world's No. 1 is really damaging the face of tennis; secondly, why it took half a year for two consecutive positive drug tests to be exposed, which is consistent with the situation of women's singles world No. 1 Schwiatek; The last point, which many people are most concerned about: why is there no penalty for a positive drug test? An independent tribunal of the International Tennis Integrity Commission (ITIA) ruled that Sinner was "not at fault or negligent" and found that the contamination was caused by the physiotherapist's negligence, without Sinner's knowledge. The penalty was only the cancellation of points and bonuses for their Indian Wells stop, and no ban was imposed. ITIA's subjective belief that Sinner was innocent of his cover-up was outraged and disgraced. Of course, Sinner's scandal can't escape WADA's eyes. In September, WADA appealed the ITIA ruling, asking for a one- to two-year ban on Sinner on the grounds that "athletes are responsible for the team's actions." Fans are hopeful that tennis will be clean again.

However, on February 15, WADA and Sinner reached a settlement, and the settlement agreement between the two parties admitted that Sinner did not intentionally use drugs and did not improve his athletic performance due to drugs, but was partially responsible for the team's negligence, and imposed a three-month ban on Sinner, and WADA officially announced the settlement result and withdrew the appeal. The ruling sent another earthquake through the tennis world, this time even more violently than the last time: Wawrinka expressed his disappointment by tweeting "I don't believe there is a clean sport"; Kyrgios, who has always dared to speak the truth, spoke out again: "This is a sad day for tennis, there is no fairness in tennis"; Zverev, who lost to Sinner at the recent Australian Open, pointed out the contradiction of logic, "either Sinner should not be banned if he is not at fault, or if he is at fault, the punishment of three months is too light"; Tennis billionaire Pegula believes that the case of Sinner and Swiatek (who will only be banned for one month in 2024) shows that there is a "differential treatment" in tennis, and that top players may receive more lenient treatment; Even tennis goat Novak Djokovic has publicly criticized the punishment as "unfair" as setting a bad example, and he also mentioned that the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) will launch a legal aid program to help ordinary players cope with similar charges. Admittedly, the handling of the Sinner affair has called into question the impartiality of WADA.

As the current world's No. 1 men's player, Sinner has the best ball skills at present, his tight baseline forehand and backhand pumping skills, making him look like a flawless robot, plus the advantage of serve and power, he has replaced Djokovic on the hard court and become a veritable No.1, coupled with his low-key personality, if there is no ban, the editor will be impressed by his strength. But the fact of a positive drug test has left a stain on his career, no matter what the reason, intentional or unintentional, whenever someone mentions him in the future, he will inevitably have to do the banned drug incident, and he may have to show enough achievements and "white spots" in his future career to be able to infinitely make his banned black spots appear less remarkable. As the person concerned, Sinner's reply after the positive test was also very dissatisfied, saying many times that he saw who his friends and enemies were, but directly ignored everyone's real concerns: Why can two positive drug tests be exempt from any punishment? The most infuriating aspect of the incident is not the act itself, but the result of the act.

It is undeniable that the Sinner affair also reflects the corruption of sports, even the highly commercialized sport of tennis. Sinner has the best business resources and nationality advantages, and was highly sought after by the ATP long before he won the Grand Slam title. At that time, the fans were surprised that such an ordinary player with zero appearance and no influence on his football skills and psychology was praised hard. Although Sinner later proved his strength, the result of this banned drug and the logic of his praise were seamlessly connected, showing that having a backstage means that you can do whatever you want! The legalization and democratization of tennis is being challenged like never before! If tennis players and fans join forces to boycott and protest, they may achieve unexpected victories, but unity is a scarce quality in tennis.

The victims of the Sinner affair are not just other tennis players and tennis fans, but the biggest damage is the fairness and transparency of the sport, Sinner himself, and the sport as a whole. If sport will stop at nothing in the pursuit of money, it is not far from collapse and disintegration.(Source: Tennis Home Author: Xiaodi)