 "Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner's ban for doping will be in place till 4 May. Reuters")
The doping saga involving world No 1 Jannik Sinner appears to have finally reached its conclusion nearly a year after he tested positive for a banned substance, not once but twice. The Italian tennis star accepted a three-month ban on Saturday as he reached an agreement with the World Anti-Doping Agency, which had initially sought to ban him for up to two years.
The chapter initially appeared to have been closed in August last year when the International Tennis Integrity Agency had cleared the 23-year-old of any wrongdoing despite testing positive for Clostebol, a steroid declared as a doping substance by WADA, during the Indian Wells Tournament in March last year.
WADA, however, refused to accept the ITIA’s verdict and decided to file an appeal with the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in September, right after he won the US Open after defeating American Taylor Fritz in the final.
The hearing at CAS was scheduled to take place in April. However, with Sinner accepting the three-month sanction, WADA has formally withdrawn its appeal before CAS, ending the case that had rocked the tennis world for a majority of 2024 and had also overshadowed the Italian’s triumph in the Australian Open last month.
Kyrgios, Wawrinka slam decision
The decision, however, hasn’t gone down well in the tennis community, especially among leading players including mercurial Australian Nick Kyrgios – who is known for his fiery personality, on the court as well as off it, as well for his blunt remarks.
“So WADA come out and say it would be a 1-2 year ban. Obviously Sinner’s team have done everything in their power to just go ahead and take a 3 month ban, no titles lost, no prize money lost. Guilty or not? Sad day for tennis. Fairness in tennis does not exist,” 2022 Wimbledon runner-up Kyrgios wrote on social networking platform X in response to Sinner’s three-month sentence.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka echoed Kyrgios’ views as he wrote, “I don’t believe in a clean sport anymore …”.
Former Spanish player, however, came to Sinner’s defence, stating that it was “very clear” that he did not intend to cheat.
“I do Stan. It’s very clear he hasn’t done anything to enhance his performance, that’s proven. He’s taking full responsibility for others’ mistake and 3 months of suspension consequently. Longer suspension would’ve made sport cleaner? I don’t think so,” Lopez wrote in response to the Swiss star’s post.
Former British tennis player Tim Henman too felt Sinner was not intentionally trying to gain an advantage, but felt it was a “little too convenient” for him to be able to negotiate his way out of a harsher punishment.
“With Sinner, I want to start off first and foremost by saying I don’t think in any way he has been trying to cheat at any stage. I don’t believe that. However, when I read this statement this morning, it just seems a little bit too convenient. It seems that there are words like agreement, and it almost seems like there’s been a negotiation,” Henman said on Sky Sports.
Sinner had claimed that his physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi had given him a massage with bare hands during the tournament in Indian Wells, California shortly after getting some Trofodermin spray applied on a cut on one of his fingers. Trofodermin is known to contain the steroid, and the three-time Grand Slam winner claimed that is what led to the positive tests.
Sinner’s suspension will be in place from 9 February to 4 May, ending 21 days before the French Open. He will be eligible to make his comeback at the Italian Open in Rome that gets underway on 7 May.
Former WTA world No 1 Iga Swiatek had also tested positive for a banned substance trimetazidine , a heart medication known as TMZ, in an out-of-competition sample submitted in August last year. Like Sinner, the five-time Grand Slam champion claimed that she did not intend to cheat, and that traces of TMZ were purely accidental.
She would later accept a one-month suspension for her failed doping test in November, and had participated in the Australian Open recently, where she lost to eventual champion Madison Keys in the final.