What did WADA and Sinner agree upon?
The world number one seems to have got off lightly with a three-month ban. He tested positive for the banned anabolic agent Clostebol in spring last year — on March 10 at the ATP Masters tournament in Indian Wells in the US and on March 18 during training — but he was
So the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) took the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and demanded a ban of one to two years. CAS was planning to hear the case in mid-March.
But WADA has now withdrawn its appeal, saying in a statement that it accepted that Sinner “did not intend to cheat and that his exposure to Clostebol did not provide any performance-enhancing benefit and took place without his knowledge as the result of [the] negligence of members of his entourage.”
It added that a three-month suspension was deemed an “appropriate outcome.”
What is Clostebol?
Clostebol is an anabolic steroid that stimulates the buildup of muscle mass and enhances performance. It was given to athletes in the former East Germany as part of . But most cases of Clostebol doping have been revealed in Italy and Brazil, where wound creams and sprays containing the substance can be bought over the counter in pharmacies.
In 2016, the Norwegian cross-country skiing star Therese Johaug It later surfaced that she had applied a skin cream that contained the substance to a sunburn on her lip. Her team doctor had bought the cream in the Italian Alps. The CAS banned the , so she missed out on the 2018 Winter in Pyeongchang.
Why was Sinner not immediately banned?
After the two positive doping tests, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) suspended Sinner provisionally, but he immediately appealed and succeeded. The ITIA accepted his explanation that a physiotherapist from his team had used a spray containing Clostebol to treat a wound on his own finger, before massaging him without wearing any gloves. This resulted in “accidental contamination.”
The ITIA is an independent organization based in London. It was founded in 2021 by the ATP, WTA and ITF tennis associations and the organizers of the four Grand Slam tournaments to safeguard the integrity of professional tennis. It referred the Sinner case to an independent panel, which found in a hearing on August 15 that the tennis player bore “no fault or negligence.”
What is Sinner’s position in world tennis?
The era of the Big Three is coming to an end. Of those who have dominated tennis over the past decades, Switzerland’s Roger Federer and , and Serbia’s Olympic champion Novak Djokovic is expected to retire soon at the age of 37.
Jannik Sinner seems intent on matching their success. In June 2024, he became the first Italian to make it to number one in the world ATP rankings and has stayed there ever since. The same year, he won two of the four Grand Slam tournaments, the Australian Open and the US Open, as well as the ATP Finals, the final tournament of the season for the eight best players of the year. This year, he defended his title at the Australian Open with against German tennis star Alexander Zverev.
What will a three-month ban mean for Sinner?
He will not lose any of his titles or the prize money he earned last year, but he will miss a few tournaments before the suspension is lifted on May 4. He will also lose the points he collected in the same three months last year in the world rankings. This will give Zverev, who is ranked second, the chance of dislodging Sinner before May. Sinner will be allowed to compete at the next Grand Slam, the French Open, taking place in Paris from May 25 to June 8. And he will even be able to practice for the clay surface at a tournament in Rome two weeks earlier.
How has the tennis world reacted to the agreement between WADA and Sinner?
Novak Djokovic said that “a majority of the players I’ve talked to in the locker room … are not happy with the way this whole process has been handled.” He added that most thought there was “favoritism happening.” He said that it appeared “you can almost affect the outcome if you are a top player if you have access to the top lawyers.”
also said that he thought the case was odd: “You’re either not guilty of anything, then you shouldn’t be banned at all,” he said. “But if you are guilty of something, then I don’t think three months is a ban for taking steroids.”
Djokovic also said there was a “lack of trust towards WADA and ITIA.” The two organizations also came under fire after the world number 2, the Polish player Iga Swiatek, . She claimed that the positive result was because of contaminated melatonin tablets she had taken for jet lag. The ITIA believed her and only suspended her for a month. In January, WADA announced that it would not appeal.
What do the anti-doping experts say about the Skinner case?
“What WADA has done here will mean the end of the anti-doping system in its current form,” Fritz Sörgel, a German pharmacist and doping expert, told DW.
He said the consequences would be “devastating,” and the system would lose its anchor. “In the future, anyone will be able to refer to the Sinner case and others and request lenient penalties despite positive doping tests. They will just need a semblance of an excuse.”
Lars Mortsiefer, the chair of the National Anti-Doping Agency of , said that the case would send out a signal and athletes testing positive in the future might try to negotiate settlements with WADA to minimize bans.
This article was translated from German.
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