In a recent exposé, billionaire tycoon and past ATP player, Ion Tiriac, has lambasted the world of tennis, branding it as utterly “rigged.” The unsettling revelation comes on the heels of the doping ban imposed on current world No. 1, Jannik Sinner.
Sinner is currently enduring a three-month hiatus from tennis, following a pact struck between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and his legal team on February 15. The Italian ace tested positive for the prohibited anabolic steroid clostebol during and after the Indian Wells Masters in March 2024.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) had earlier in August disclosed that Sinner had sidestepped a ban. An independent tribunal cleared him of any blame, accepting his account of accidental contamination by a spray used by his former physio during a massage.
However, the plot thickened when WADA challenged the ITIA’s verdict at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in September. They sought to impose a ban ranging from one to two years on Sinner. The case was due to be heard at the CAS from April 16-17 until Sinner reached an agreement with WADA.
Sinner’s ban, which also encompasses four days previously served under a provisional suspension, extends from February 9 to May 4. Consequently, the three-time Grand Slam champion had to pull out of the Qatar Open ATP 500 event last week. He will also be absent from the Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, and Madrid.
Despite the ban, the 23-year-old will not miss out on any Grand Slam tournaments. He will be eligible to compete at the Italian Open, which commences three days after the expiration of his suspension.
Tiriac, in a letter to L’Equipe, expressed his dismay at what he perceives as the normalization of “cheating” in tennis, citing Sinner’s case as an example. He stated that the day WADA began accepting ‘TUE’ exemptions for athletes to consume blacklisted substances marked the legalization of cheating and the downfall of the system.
Tiriac lamented the impact of these TUE exceptions on the sport, competitors, and spectators, asserting that the game is severely rigged. He questioned the future of sports and the fairness of allowing TUEs, which could potentially confer a 10-30% advantage over competitors.
Tiriac, whose tennis career spanned from 1958 to 1979 and included a 1970 French Open doubles victory with fellow Romanian Ilie Nastase, also mentored leading ATP players such as Nastase, Boris Becker, and Guillermo Vilas. The owner of the Madrid Masters tournament from 2009-2021, Tiriac was recognized as the third-wealthiest person in Romania by Forbes in 2022, with an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion.