Former world number one Boris Becker has backed Italy’s Jannik Sinner in a doping scandal after recent allegations of favouritism from some of the big names in tennis. The 23-year-old, who is already regarded as the best player in the world in men’s tennis in the singles category, has been in the spotlight for the wrong reasons after testing positive for the banned substance Clostebol in two doping tests back in March.

Despite that, interestingly, Sinner managed to escape any ban as the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted the player’s counsel’s response where they claimed that the availability of the banned substance in the player’s sample was because of receiving cream for the treatment of an injury from one member of the coaching staff.

That decision received widespread criticism from some of the big names in tennis, including the former world number one Lindsay Devenport and Australia’s Nick Kyrgios. Recently, Serbia’s legendary tennis star Novak Djokovic also criticised the decision. The 37-year-old, who is regarded as the greatest player in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles, spoke ahead of the Brisbane Internationa,l where he expressed frustration after being kept in ‘dark’ regarding the doping case for ‘five months.

“I’m not questioning whether [Sinner] took the banned substance intentionally or not,” he said. “We’ve had plenty of players in the past and currently under suspension for not even testing positive to banned substances. Some players with lower rankings waiting for their case to be resolved for over a year. I’ve been really frustrated … to see we’ve been kept in the dark for at least five months [on the Sinner case].”

Germany’s legendary tennis star and former world number one Becker has backed Sinner regarding the doping scandal. The 57-year-old, in a post on social media platform X—previously known as Twitter— reposted another post with a caption where he suggested that everyone must read facts before concluding. “We should take time and read the facts !,” he wrote.