{"id":82515,"date":"2025-04-18T07:30:37","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T11:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=82515"},"modified":"2025-04-17T22:24:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T02:24:22","slug":"serena-williams-criticizes-sinner-suspension-i-would-have-lost-grand-slams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/04\/18\/serena-williams-criticizes-sinner-suspension-i-would-have-lost-grand-slams\/","title":{"rendered":"Serena Williams Criticizes Sinner Suspension: \u201cI Would Have Lost Grand Slams\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jannik Sinner\u2019s three-month suspension is almost over. The world No. 1 is set to return to action this May at the Italian Open<\/a> and is already back on the practice courts in Monte Carlo. However, the controversy surrounding his case continues to spark debate. It was Serena Williams who reignited the conversation in a recent interview with Time Magazine<\/em><\/a>, and her comments quickly went viral.<\/p>\n

On one hand, she praised Sinner\u2019s talent and his importance to men\u2019s tennis; on the other, she strongly criticized the way the case was handled–igniting heated discussion among fans and raising broader concerns about fairness and consistency in professional sport.<\/p>\n

Serena: \u201cIf I Did That, I\u2019d Have Lost Grand Slams\u201d<\/h2>\n

In her interview, Serena Williams was candid. While she expressed admiration for Sinner, she didn\u2019t hold back in pointing out what she sees as a double standard:<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the guy, I love this game. He\u2019s great for the sport. But if I did that, I would have gotten 20 years. Let\u2019s be honest. I would have had Grand Slams taken away from me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her words highlighted long-standing frustrations over how disciplinary actions can vary drastically depending on an athlete\u2019s status, gender, or history.<\/p>\n

A Subtle Reference to Sharapova<\/h3>\n

Williams also mentioned former rival Maria Sharapova<\/a>–who was suspended for 15 months in 2016 after testing positive for a banned substance–as an emotional comparison:<\/p>\n

\u201cJust weirdly and oddly, I can\u2019t help but think about Maria all this time. I can\u2019t help but feel for her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharapova was banned after testing positive for Meldonium, a drug she said she had been using for years and didn\u2019t realize had been added to the banned list. The reference adds emotional weight to Serena\u2019s remarks and draws attention to how similar cases can result in very different outcomes.<\/p>\n

Of course, the two situations are very different: Sinner did not intentionally use Clostebol, while Sharapova claimed she was unaware of the rule change. Still, both athletes proclaimed their innocence–and both have become central figures in the ongoing conversation about equality and accountability in sport.<\/p>\n

Pellegrini Criticizes \u201cSpecial Treatment\u201d<\/h3>\n

Serena Williams was actually not the first athlete to comment the Clostebol case and how it was handled. Italian Olympic swimmer Federica Pellegrini had already voiced her concerns earlier in an interview with La Repubblica<\/em><\/a>, stating:<\/p>\n

\u201cSinner was treated differently from 99% of other athletes. Jannik is much loved and therefore defended in every aspect. But… it becomes my responsibility if a physio uses a cream and I test positive. That applies to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jannik Sinner\u2019s three-month suspension is almost over. The world No. 1 is set to return to action this May at the Italian Open and is already back on the practice courts in Monte Carlo. However, the controversy surrounding his case continues to spark debate. It was Serena Williams who reignited the conversation in a recent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5454,"featured_media":55876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2,9],"tags":[259,5862,42819,894,25,6457,364],"class_list":["post-82515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atp","category-featured","category-news","tag-atp-tour","tag-jannik-sinner","tag-jannik-sinner-doping","tag-maria-sharapova","tag-serena-williams","tag-tennis-news","tag-wta-tour"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82515"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82526,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82515\/revisions\/82526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}