Former French tournament director Guy Forget has rallied to the defence of Jannik Sinner, saying any retroactive banning of the world No. 1 after being cleared of guilt for inadvertent doping would be “an absolute tragedy.”

The ex-player and Roland Garros TD told Tennis Actu of his worries as the Italian faces a challenge to his clearance by anti-doping bosses for microscopic amounts on a prohibited substance contained in a cream used by his former masseur.

“I have the impression that such a level of technology has been reached in testing that it is possible to trace a grain of sugar in an Olympic swimming pool,” Forget said. 

Sinner will await a February decision on the protest of his no-fault sentence by anti-doping body WADA, with a possible two-year ban the worst-case scenario for the hottest player of this past season.

“All players take food supplements and vitamins: products that could contain traces of risky substances. So, even without knowing it, they end up testing positive,” Forget said..
“When this happens, it is an absolute tragedy for the innocent. I am not talking about the guilty and repeat offenders.

“I put myself in the shoes of an athlete who tested positive for a substance present in infinitesimal quantities.

“We can tell ourselves that we are preventing ourselves from living our passion, finding ourselves in such a situation despite never having cheated: it is terrible.

“I see it a bit like this for Halep, Swiatek and Sinner. The problem is that there cannot be a two-level solution.

“he warned: “We cannot think of suspending one player for a year and the other for three weeks.

“It is a double standard that would be an injustice and a problem.

“I do not doubt Sinner’s good faith, unlike what I have done in other cases. If Sinner were to receive a retroactive sanction, it will be tough for him”.

Stefanos Tsitsipas has joined the growing chorus of complaints as the ATP charges ahead with the controversial doubling of the Masters 1000 tournament length from one week to two.

The hot-topic change is due to be completed in 2025 despite criticism coming from all corners of the tennis universe.

The Greek whose season ended at last week’s Paris Masters – the last of the classic one-week events – has lashed out at what he called a “backwards step” by tennis bosses whose client tourneys can reap more money by adding more days of play.

On the Grand Slam stage, both the French and Australian Opens start on a Sunday, extending those to majors to a gruelling 15 days.

But it’s the Masters plan which is drawing fire from the player side of the sport.

Former No. 1 Andy Roddick, who hosts an influential podcast,” has labelled the expansion as “stupid.”

Tsitsipas echoes that harsh sentiment: “The two-week Masters 1000s have turned into a drag, the quality has definitely dropped.

“Players aren’t getting the recovery or training time they need, with constant matches and no space for the intense work off the court.”

Already, the Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Rome Masters were played at two weeks this season, with Canada and Cincinnati expected to follow the ATP diktat next August and expand as well.

“If the goal was to ease the calendar, extending every 1000 to two weeks is a backwards move. Sometimes, it feels like they’re fixing what wasn’t broken,” Tsitsipas posted on social media.