World No. 1 Jannik Sinner has finished serving a three-month suspension after testing positive for a trace amount of the banned substance Clostebol, quickly winning the Italian Open in his return. But the French Open will mark the tennis superstar's first Grand Slam event since returning to action. We aggregated the best French Open results of top players who faced public drug suspensions to see how their careers changed after the time away from the court.
As of today, no tennis player has come back from it and won the French Open. Will Sinner be the first?
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How Do Tennis Stars Do In French Open After Drug Suspension?
Best Result | Player |
Champion | None |
Finalist | |
Semifinalist | |
Quarterfinalist | |
Fourth Round |
Analyzing French Open Performances After Suspensions
Relative to players who have previously served drug suspensions, Sinner is uniquely well positioned to win a French Open title at some point in his post-suspension career. Sinner's only 23 years old and had a firm enough grasp on the No. 1 ranking at the time of his suspension that the three-month ban didn't knock him out of the top spot. All three of his Grand Slam titles to date have come on hard courts, but the big-hitting Italian's style works well on all surfaces, and he reached the French Open semifinals last year.
Martina Hingis, Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep were all multi-time Grand Slam champions and former world No. 1 women's tennis players who were handed drug suspensions, but they were past their respective primes when suspended. Sharapova reached the quarterfinals in her lone subsequent French Open appearance, while neither Hingis nor Halep played Roland-Garros again post-suspension. Halep, who was suspended in 2023, won the French Open in 2018 while being coached by Darren Cahill, who currently coaches Sinner.
The player that has come the closest to winning the French Open after serving a drug suspension was Guillermo Coria, who tested positive for the steroid nandrolone in 2001 and subsequently reached the 2004 French Open final. He was heavily favored in that match but choked away a two-set lead against Argentinian compatriot Gaston Gaudio. Rafael Nadal then began his stretch of 14 French Open titles in 18 years in 2005, blocking Coria and most of the ATP Tour.
Reigning French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz could become this generation's Nadal, but Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka still managed to sneak in Roland Garros titles during the King of Clay's reign, so Sinner certainly seems more likely than not to get one eventually.
He may not have to wait long as the oddsmakers' second-favorite at the 2025 French Open behind Alcaraz, but there's actually a player with a higher likelihood than Sinner of becoming the first player to win Roland-Garros post-suspension this year. Iga Swiatek, who served a one-month suspension in November 2024 after a positive test for the banned substance trimetazidine, is the clear favorite on the women's side as she angles for a French Open four-peat.
