Jannik Sinner’s coach, Simone Vagnozzi, has seemingly aimed a subtle dig at Novak Djokovic in response to his recent comments regarding the world no.2s doping ban. Sinner was handed a three-month ban from tennis by World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) in February 2025 with it deemed that banned anabolic steroid, clostebol, entered his system accidentally.

The Italian returned to the sport in May and despite losing to fierce rival Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the French and US open, he has won three titles since then including Wimbledon where he defeated the Spaniar. Sinner has the chance to make that four triumphs since his playing comeback having reached the semi-finals of the ATP Finals with a straight sets victory over Alexander Zverev.

Dkojovic was due to feature in the tournament but was forced to pull out having not recovered from a shoulder injury. Despite not being in action over the last few days, the Serbian has still been in the headlines following his comments on the odd timing and length of Sinner’s ban

“That cloud will follow him just as the cloud of Covid will follow me, for the rest of his, or my career in this case,” he admitted during an interview on the Piers Morgan, Uncensored YouTube channel. “It’s just something that, it was so major, and when that happens, over time it will fade, but I don’t think it will disappear.

“There’s always going to be a certain group of people that will always try to bring that forward. There is the lack of transparency, the inconsistency, the convenience [of] the ban coming between the slams, so he doesn’t miss out the others – it’s just it was very, very odd,” added Djokovic.

“I really don’t like how the case was being handled and you could hear so many other players, both male and female, who had some similar situations coming out in the media and complaining that it was a preferable treatment.” Following the release of that interview, Vagnozzi uploaded a Bill Bullard quote to Instagram which some believe was aimed at Djokovic.

It read: “Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding. The highest form of knowledge… is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another’s world. It requires profound purpose larger than the self kind of understanding.”

The 42-year-old accompanied the story, that has since expired, with a hands together and thumbs up emoji.