 "Djokovic says exorcising ghosts of doping saga won't be easy for Sinner: 'That cloud will follow him forever'")
Jannik Sinner has made a strong comeback since he served a three-month doping suspension earlier this year, the time spent away from the game hardly affecting his form. Serbian tennis legend Novak Djokovic, however, feels that shaking off the doping controversy isn’t going to be easy for the 24-year-old, likening his situation to the time he faced heat from the tennis world for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
“That cloud will follow him forever like Covid vaccine situation for me,” the 24-time Grand Slam champion said on Piers Morgan Uncensored.
DROPPING SOON: Novak Djokovic sits down with Piers Morgan to discuss Sinner, Alacaraz, whether he'll win another Grand Slam... plus he discusses the Covid fallout.
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) November 11, 2025
On YouTube at 6pm (1pm ET) 👇
📺 https://t.co/QR11ywsANx@piersmorgan | @DjokerNole pic.twitter.com/NQ6DjLbDZy
Revisiting the Sinner doping saga
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) had slapped a three-month doping suspension on the Italian tennis star in February, shortly after Sinner won the Australian Open after defeating Alexander Zverev in the final.
And he returned to action in the nick of time to compete at the French Open, where he narrowly missed out on the clay-court Grand Slam after an incedible fightback by Carlos Alcaraz in the final. Sinner would then feature in the final of the next two Grand Slams as well, denying Alcaraz back-to-back Wimbledon titles immediately right after his Roland Garros heartbreak before losing to the Spaniard in the US Open in September.
The current world No 2 had returned two positive tests for clostebol, a banned anabolic steroid, while competing at the Indian Wells Masters last year. He was initially cleared by an independent tribunal after claiming the tests were the result of an accidental contamination. Sinner claimed that his physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi had used an over-the-counter spray to treat a cut on his finger and then gave him a massage, resulting in the contamination.
WADA however, clearly did not buy the argument, and the four-time Grand Slam champion ended up accepting a three-month suspension – which is a lot less compared to the doping bans handed to other players such as Simona Halep, who had received a four-year suspension that later reduced to nine months following the intervention of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
How Djokovic’s anti-vaccine stance had landed him in trouble
As for Djokovic’s COVID vaccine controversy, the Serbian was deported from Australia ahead of the 2022 Australian Open, having refused to get jabbed at a time when the pandemic was still raging across the world.
Australia was not allowing people into the country without a valid vaccination certificate at the time and Djokovic, who had admitted he wasn’t a fan of getting vaccinated, had cited a prior infection and recovery from COVID as grounds for medical exemption.
Needless to say, Djokovic’s argument for a vaccine exemption wasn’t accepted, and he was detained for five days at a hotel before being forced to fly out of the country.
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