“In the end, you have to choose the lesser evil, and I believe that is what I have done,” Jannik Sinner, who still believes his ban was unfair, said while accepting his ban earlier this year. While many doubted Sinner’s comeback, the Italian responded with back-to-back Grand Slam final on clay and grass. Still, WADA’s appeal and intense scrutiny led to massive backlash from tennis community, including Novak Djokovic, who called out the favoritism.

“A majority of the players don’t feel it’s fair. A majority of the players feel like there is favoritism happening. It appears that you can almost affect the outcome if you are a top player, if you have access to the top lawyers,” Nole said at the time. Well, since then Sinner has not only knocked Djokovic twice in Grand Slams, but also made to consecutive championship finals.

On Thursday, when the 23-year-old reached his first-ever Wimbledon final, he was over moon. “It’s a tournament I always watched when I was young on television. I would never have imagined that I could play here in the final,” Jannik said on Thursday. Although Sinner has not won the SW19 yet, former finalist Nick Kyrgios believes that Sinner winning the Grand Slam may not be good for the sport because of his doping history.

Kyrgios, who will be commentating in the finals, had some strong opinions about Sinner and Iga Swiatek, who was also banned for a month after failing to her doping test. Ahead of the final, Kyrgios said, “At the end of the day, the decision has been made, and it’s kind of in the past. Do I think it’s a good look for the sport that Iga Swiatek and Sinner are in the final at Wimbledon after serving a ban? I don’t think it’s a good look for the sport. And I think people could agree.”

The former Wimbledon finalist pointed out that letting two top-ranked players, even if their mistakes were deemed unintentional, take part in such a big event sends a concerning message about integrity in tennis. Kyrgios also raised some concerns about how consistent and fair the entire anti-doping system is in the sport.

But the Aussie didn’t take away the credit for what Sinner has accomplished after his ban, saying, “Sinner, he served a ban, which do I agree with? No. But he came back, and he’s been playing some excellent tennis. He didn’t look like he missed a beat, and he looked like he improved during that period of time, which is still incredible, regardless of why he was banned.”

However, when the Italian tennis star reached the finals, he did mention a particular moment from his semi-final match against Djokovic that kind of gave him an edge.

Janik Sinner knew what was going on

Jannik Sinner beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets—6-3, 6-3, 6-4—to make it to his first final at SW19. In his on-court interview, Sinner expressed his excitement about reaching the final, saying, “From my side, I served very well today. I felt great on court. I was moving much better today.” But Sinner also highlighted his opponent’s condition, “I think we all saw, especially in the third set, that he was a bit injured. He fell in the last couple of points in the quarterfinals, and he’s been in a very difficult situation.”

So, the Serbian really took a hard fall during the quarterfinals against Italy’s Flavio Cobolli. Being down 1-4 in the fourth set, Djokovic did what he does best—he fought back. But then, his feet lost grip on the slippery grass, and he ended up in a pretty awkward split. “It was a nasty fall. It was very awkward. That happens on grass. I’ve had quite a few of those throughout my grass-court career. Obviously, [my] body is not the same today like it was before,” Djokovic mentioned after the match.

When he went up against Sinner in the semifinals just a few hours later, fans really couldn’t miss it—Djokovic was limping after the first set. We’ll just have to wait and see if Sinner can bring the same intensity when he goes up against the unstoppable Carlos Alcaraz in the finals. Catch all the intense Wimbledon action on our Live Blog!