About eleven months ago, Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner failed two doping tests, one of them administered in-competition in America. He tested positive for clostebol, a banned anabolic steroid. Sinner’s cover story was that one of his trainers was using clostebol and Sinner was contaminated with the steroid while his trainer was working on his body. We knew nothing about Sinner’s two failed doping tests when they happened last March – it wasn’t until August 2024 when the story came out, right before the US Open. In-between March and August, Sinner withdrew from several big tournaments, including the tournament in Rome and the Paris Olympics. After the doping situation came out, Sinner won back-to-back Slams at the US Open and Australian Open.
Throughout this entire debacle, people have gotten the whiff of bullsh-t and cover-up. Sinner is seen as the “golden boy” of the ATP, especially with Italians taking over so much of the bureaucracy of the men’s tour. Sinner is making tens of millions annually from sponsorships, and he’s been #1 for much of the past year. Clearly, there’s a vested interest in keeping their golden boy as “clean” as possible. Well, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) called bullsh-t on how Sinner’s case was handled, and they were appealing the slap on the wrist given to Sinner last year. Sinner was facing a possible one or two-year ban. Then, over the weekend, this announcement: Sinner and WADA have “settled” the case.
Jannik Sinner, the world’s No. 1 male tennis player, has accepted a three-month ban from the sport following an anti-doping rule violation.
Australian Open champion Sinner, 23, received a sanction in August but was found by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) to bear “no fault or negligence” after twice testing positive for clostebol — a banned anabolic steroid — at the Indian Wells Masters 1000 tournament in March. He was permitted to continue playing.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed against that ruling in September with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) having set a hearing date for April. However, WADA confirmed Saturday that it had entered into a case resolution agreement with the Italian, a three-time Grand Slam winner. He will now be ineligible to compete until May 4 but will be available to return in time for the second Grand Slam of the year, the French Open, later that month. Sinner will be allowed to train from April 13.
“WADA accepts the athlete’s explanation for the cause of the violation as outlined in the first instance decision,” a statement read. “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 CAS precedent, an athlete bears responsibility for the entourage’s negligence. Based on the unique set of facts of this case, a three-month suspension is deemed to be an appropriate outcome. As previously stated, WADA did not seek a disqualification of any results, save that which was previously imposed by the tribunal of first instance. The International Tennis Federation and International Tennis Integrity Agency, both co-respondents to WADA’s CAS appeal, neither of which appealed the first-instance decision, both accepted the case resolution agreement.”
Given how many tournaments Sinner missed last year, a three-month suspension from February to early May will barely affect his ranking or his defense of any ranking points. The suspension has been purposefully scheduled in-between Slams as well – they let him play (and win) the Australian Open, and he’ll be well-rested and ready for Roland Garros. Something similarly dodgy happened with Iga Swiatek’s failed doping test last year – as her case was being investigated and adjudicated, Swiatek was bizarrely allowed to play in the tour finals and BJK Cup. This whole Sinner situation reeks to high heaven, and between the Sinner and Swiatek cases, it really feels like tennis has become a crackhead paradise for top players – as long as they’re white Europeans in the top ten, everyone will do the most to cover their asses.
I don’t believe in a clean sport anymore …
— Stanislas Wawrinka (@stanwawrinka) February 15, 2025
Didn’t realise you could reach a settlement regarding a doping ban… Interesting. Back in time for French Open I guess?
— Liam Broady (@Liambroady) February 15, 2025
“It just seems a little bit too convenient.”
Tim Henman reacts to Jannik Sinner accepting an immediate three-month ban from tennis. pic.twitter.com/W3CqA99Jyd
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) February 15, 2025
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
