Sinner suspended for three months after agreement with World Anti-Doping Agency

After nearly a year, the doping saga involving the world No 1 men’s tennis player, Jannik Sinner, has reached a formal conclusion.

Sinner has accepted an immediate three-month doping ban after a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).

Sinner and Wada reached an agreement on his period of ineligibility, allowing him to return before the French Open in May, probably at his home tournament at the Italian Open in Rome.

As punishments go, some view it as a slap on the wrist, as Sinner takes time off in the Northern Hemisphere winter and can fully prepare for the clay court season.

However, the outcome appears to be in line with all the previous findings in this case, most vitally, that the trace amounts of the banned anabolic agent clostebol were miniscule.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (Itia), which investigated the case after Sinner returned a positive sample on 10 March 2024, concluded that the banned substance entered his system by accident.

Sinner said his physio, Giacomo Naldi, applied an over-the-counter spray containing clostebol to his own skin to treat a small finger wound, and then administered massages between 5 and 13 March without using gloves, according to Itia.

Naldi was unaware that the product he had used on his cut contained clostebol, said Sinner. Clostebol is a steroid that can be used to build muscle mass.

Plausible?

Sinner’s first positive sample was taken on 10 March last year, with a second eight days later. A provisional suspension was applied with each positive test but he was allowed to keep playing after his team filed urgent appeals.

Sinner has since fired Naldi and his fitness trainer Umberto Ferrara, who is said to have purchased the ointment.

It seemed an implausible defence, especially as the concept of strict liability is central to any doping code. It means athletes are responsible for what they ingest at any time.

But Itia found it plausible, as did Wada in the end.

“Wada confirms that it has entered into a case resolution agreement in the case of Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner, with the player accepting a three-month period of ineligibility for an anti-doping rule violation," said Wada in a statement on Saturday.

“Wada accepts that Mr 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 negligence of members of his entourage.

“However, under the Code and by virtue of Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) precedent, an athlete bears responsibility for the entourage's negligence.”

As a consequence of this agreement, Wada has withdrawn its appeal to CAS, which it initially launched after the Itia judgment cleared Sinner.

Sinner responded in a statement: “This case had been hanging over me now for nearly a year and the process still had a long time to run with a decision maybe only at the end of the year.

“I have always accepted that I am responsible for my team and realise Wada’s strict rules are an important protection for the sport I love.

“On that basis, I have accepted Wada’s offer to resolve these proceedings on the basis of a three-month sanction.”

Criticism

The timing of his suspension (the ending of which coincides with the season’s second Grand Slam) and the seemingly preferential treatment Sinner received by not being suspended while the Itia investigation went on last year, have been questioned.

The Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA), which was established by 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic, was critical.
“The ‘system’ is not a system. It’s a club. Supposed case-by-case discretion is, in fact, merely cover for tailored deals, unfair treatment and inconsistent rulings,” said the PTPA.

“It’s not just the different results for different players. It’s the lack of transparency. The lack of process. The lack of consistency.

“This bias is unacceptable for all athletes and shows a deep disrespect for every sport and its fans.”

That claim of bias and preferential treatment has been challenged by an unlikely source.

Last year, Travis Tygart, the CEO of the US Anti-Doping Agency told Daily Maverick he believed the case had been run by the book.

Tygart was critical of Wada’s decision to appeal to CAS, especially after its handling of the case of 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ) months before the Covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Wada cleared them all without launching an investigation, relying on information supplied by Chinese anti-doping authorities.

“Unlike the Chinese TMZ 23, the rules, and if you’re referring to the Sinner case in particular, the rules were followed,” Tygart told Daily Maverick.

“Transparency was upheld. Why was he [Sinner] not provisionally suspended? Well, he was. But he appealed it and they lifted it. That’s within the rules.

“Compare that to the Chinese cases. They never even provisionally suspended the athletes, and the rules are absolutely clear on that type of positive. You have to be suspended.

“You can challenge it, and an independent hearing officer can lift the provision, which is what happened in the Sinner case. Then the outcome of the case found no fault.

“Again, contrast that with what happened in China.

“While I appreciate the commentary and the discussion (of the Sinner case), the fact that we’re able to have that commentary and discussion is because they [Itia] did follow the rules.

“It was open and is in the public domain. Contrast that with what happened in China. It’s night and day, and for the Wada to allow what happened in China to happen in the way that it did, is outrageous.

“We all should be upset that the global regulator allowed the rules not to apply as they should apply.”

Travis Tygart. (Photo: Nathan Howard / Getty Images)

The Italian Tennis and Padel Federation welcomed the outcome.

“This is the first time that a shameful injustice makes us happy because our first thought is for the boy who sees the end of a nightmare,” said the federation’s president, Angelo Binaghi.

Tygart also accepted the plausibility of Sinner’s version.

“Sinner’s samples showed less than one nanogram of clostebol, which is minute,” said Tygart.

“It was, like, 500 picograms. There is an experiment that the Cologne laboratory did where they got this medication, this lotion over the counter and they rubbed it on their hands.

“They let their hands dry and a little while later, they went and shook hands with someone else.

“They then took the urine from that someone else. The results showed they had a low level of 500 picograms of clostebol.

“So, as outrageous as this [Sinner] scenario sounds, we know it could happen.” DM