Jannik Sinner, #1 in men’s tennis, was cleared after two positive doping tests

Jannik Sinner is currently the #1 men’s tennis player in the world. The 23-year-old Italian has long been on the radar of tennis elites, especially when Nike signed him to a reported blockbuster 10-year $158 million sponsorship. For several years, Sinner seemed heavily hyped with little to show for it, but over the past twelve months, he won his first major (Australian Open) and three Masters titles, plus a half-dozen smaller titles. He also made it to the semifinal of Roland Garros (lost to Carlos Alcaraz) and the quarterfinal of Wimbledon (lost to Daniil Medvedev) this year. Jannik literally just won his third Masters title on Monday in Cincinnati. And right after that, it was revealed that Jannik had two positive doping tests back in March, and the tour seemingly covered it up while they “investigated.”

Jannik Sinner, the men’s tennis world No 1, has received an anti-doping sanction after twice testing positive for a banned substance. An independent tribunal has ruled that Sinner bears “no fault or negligence” for both positive tests.

An in-competition test at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells on March 10, 2024 detected an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for clostebol, a banned anabolic steroid which is a non-specified substance on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) prohibited list. A second test, conducted out of competition on March 18, also detected a metabolite of clostebol. The benchmark sanction should a player be found at fault for violations of this nature is four years of ineligibility.

As a non-specified substance, an AAF for clostebol carries a mandatory provisional suspension from tennis. Sinner appealed against that suspension on both occasions, and so was allowed to continue to play, and rise to the top of the tennis world, as the investigation into whether he intentionally took the banned substance unfolded. An independent tribunal appointed by Sport Resolutions, a private firm that often oversees doping cases, approved lifting both suspensions.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) investigation concluded with a hearing, also overseen by Sport Resolutions, on August 15. At that hearing an independent tribunal ruled that Sinner bore “no fault or negligence” for the two violations of the Tennis Anti-Doping Program (TADP). The Italian admitted both violations, and is able to continue to play as he has done since the tests were conducted.

In separate announcements Tuesday, ITIA and Sinner’s team said that the Italian had tested positive for low levels of the anabolic steroid, once used as part of the notorious East German state-sponsored doping regime in the 1960s and 1970s. Sinner’s team and the ITIA stated that he cooperated fully with the investigation.

[From The NY Times]

The reason why Sinner got a “no fault” adjudication is because the ITIA believed Sinner’s explanation and his team’s explanation, which is that Sinner’s Italian physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi was using an Italian over-the-counter healing spray on his own body, and the residue from the spray on Naldi’s body/hands got onto Sinner when Naldi was working on Sinner’s body. Sinner is putting the blame squarely on Naldi and Naldi is professing ignorance that the spray he bought in Italy (which he brought to California) contained a WADA-banned substance. Naldi has memory loss, because he claimed the exact same thing in 2018 with a different athlete.

Personally, I think that cross-contamination explanation is screwy, but it is what it is and Sinner has been cleared. What is astonishing to me and to the tennis world is that the men’s tour (the ATP) seemingly bent over backwards to shield Sinner from any repercussions, even a temporary suspension while an investigation was on-going. Throughout the year, Sinner has missed some big tournaments (even his “home tournament” in Rome) and claimed illness or injury. Now people are wondering what the hell has been going on behind the scenes. Did I mention that Italians have taken over the executive positions of the ATP? Did I mention that Jannik has gotten some side-eyes for his extremely lucrative sponsorships in recent years, as it’s been clear that a lot of people are investing a lot of money to ensure that he is seen as the next big thing (alongside Carlos Alcaraz)? Speaking of, a lot of players are not happy that this whole thing was seemingly covered up for months.

Whether Sinner was doping or not. This is not right. Plenty of players go through the same thing and have to wait months or YEARS for their innocence to be declared. Not a good look https://t.co/kaqMJy36wi

— Liam Broady (@Liambroady) August 20, 2024

So now comes out that Giacomo Naldi (Sinner’s physio) was already involved in similar incident before with another sports team with same exact banned substance.

So how we can now believe the excuse they gave that they didn’t know? They clearly knew and had excuse ready in case… pic.twitter.com/Y4BVdIBCLy

— cestlaviemacher | (@cestlaviemacher) August 20, 2024

Fellow players very quickly turning on Jannik Sinner, and very publicly too.

It’s getting ugly real fast.

I’ve never seen ANYTHING like this before. pic.twitter.com/fLHVOFkYFM

— Swish ???? Tennis (@Zwxsh) August 20, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.