"Stop comparing Iga Swiatek & Jannik Sinner cases with him"; "An utterly shameless organization" - Fans divided over Max Purcell's 18-month doping ban

Max Purcell received an 18-month doping suspension from the International Tennis Integrity Association (ITIA) on Tuesday (April 29) for receiving multiple IV infusions of vitamins above 500mL in December 2023. However, this decision has polarized opinion in the tennis community on social media, as many believe that the sentence is unfair to the Aussie since Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek were handed bans of much lesser time period.

Last December, Purcell disclosed on his Instagram handle that he had "voluntarily accepted" a provisional suspension after it came out that he had received an IV infusion of vitamins well above the permissible 100ml limit. The 27-year-old claimed back then that he had asked the healthcare professional in charge to administer him vitamins under the limit set by WADA's anti-doping rules.

However, according to ITIA's statement in adherence to their Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP), Max Purcell had been sent "a notice of a potential Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV)" before he disclosed the above IV infusion. Moreover, the anti-doping outfit also claimed that the former World No. 40 had told an undisclosed player about the procedure in a conversation on WhatsApp before deleting the relevant messages that would have possibly implicated him then.

The ITIA's statement, however, divided tennis fans on X (formerly Twitter) as a large section believe that Max Purcell didn't receive the same 'preferential treatment' that Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek did when they tested positive last year for banned substances clostebol and trimetazidine, respectively. One fan defended Sinner and Swiatek, while also accusing Purcell of "hiding evidence" and "cheating".

"Stop comparing Iga & Jannik cases with him. He tried to hide evidence & he knew he was cheating," the fan wrote on X.

Another fan, meanwhile, represented the larger sentiment on X as they took shots at Sinner, who only received a ban this year despite failing his doping tests last March. They mentioned that the ITIA and tennis' governing bodies had cooperated on the timing of the World No. 1's sentence to make sure that he didn't miss the Italian Open next week.

"Meanwhile, they back dated Sinner's suspension so he could come back for his home tournament. He even practised on official courts in what counts as early days of the suspension. An utterly shameless organisation," they claimed.

While one fan insisted that Sinner and Swiatek testing positive for "PEDs" was worse than what Purcell did, a few others suggested that the Aussie incorporating an "illegal" method to get his vitamins made his case worse.

"Y'all really threw the book at this man over an IV feed when your two world no 1s tested positive for PEDs… one of them MULTIPLE TIMES???? Be so f***ing for real," one fan asserted.

"They found messages in which players talked about this practice that they knew was illegal and that they tried to hide," another wrote.

"As always, the usual suspects are crying about Jannik in the quotes and I am 100% sure most of them haven't bothered to read the ruling," another fan claimed while taking shots at Sinner's detractors.

For those unaware, while vitamins are ostensibly not a "Prohibited Substance" according to ITIA's doping regulations, the way in which Max Purcell received his supplements accounted for "Use of a Prohibited Method".

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Max Purcell suffers worse fate than Jannik Sinner & Iga Swiatek as he will lose ATP points and prize money

While Max Purcell got an 18-month ban, No. 1 Sinner only served 3 months on sidelines | Image Source: Getty

According to ITIA's statement, Max Purcell will forfeit the ATP ranking points and prize money that he gained between December 16, 2023 (the date of his first IV infusion) and February 3, 2024, as a consequence of his doping violation. For academic purposes, while Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek were both handed much lighter sentences than Max Purcell, they also dropped their respective ranking points at only the tournaments where their positive tests were taken.

Sinner had failed multiple doping tests for the banned substance clostebol at the Indian Wells Masters in March 2024. While the Italian did serve a nearly one-week long provisional suspension and was docked 400 points from his semifinal run at the tournament, he got off scot-free back then as ITIA found him to be at "no fault nor negligence" in August as he was able to prove that the substance reached his bloodstream through involuntary contamination. Unfortunately for the World No. 1, WADA was at odds with this ruling for months, eventually leading to the 23-year-old agreeing to a three-month doping ban in February.

Swiatek, meanwhile, had tested positive for trimetazidine at last year's Cincinnati Open. While the then-World No. 1 copped a provisional suspension in September-October, she was also let off after proving that she had taken melatonin which was contaminated with the banned substance. ITIA's ruling on the Pole wasn't challenged by WADA but she did lose 390 points from her last-four campaign in Cincinnati.