Jannik Sinner defended by Serena Williams’ ex-coach after attending major fashion event

Oli Dickson Jefford 01 Mar 2025 8:46 AM

Jannik Sinner and Rennae Stubbs.

Jannik Sinner has been defended by doubles Grand Slam champion and former world No 1 Rennae Stubbs following his appearance at Milan Fashion Week.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Sinner is serving a three-month suspension after twice testing positive for banned substance clostebol in March 2024.

The Italian’s suspension began in February 2025, and he will be unable to compete until May 5th, having come to a settlement in his case with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The resolution to Sinner’s case ended a long, drawn-out, and sometimes fraught process, which saw WADA initially appeal the International Tennis Integrity Agency’s (ITIA) decision to not hand Sinner a suspension.

Sinner was found of “no fault” by the ITIA after successfully proving that he had accidently been contaminated by team members – a factor that was not challenged by WADA despite their appeal.

Sinner’s ban was confirmed on February 15th and backdated to February 4th, and this week saw the 23-year-old make his first public appearance since his suspension was confirmed.

The world No 1 was a guest of honour at the Gucci Fashion Show at Milan Fashion Week, being a brand ambassador for the Italian company.

Sinner was seated in the front row alongside Anna Wintour, famed Vogue editor and a well-known tennis fan.

Some have questioned whether it was appropriate for Sinner to be invited to the show, considering his current suspension from the sport.

Quoting a post about Sinner’s appearance from Tennis Channel, one person on Twitter/X wrote: “It’s fair to ask…were Halep, Sharapova, or anyone else who ever served out a doping-related ban ever promoted by some of the biggest tennis accounts during said ban?”

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This drew the ire of Stubbs, a former WTA doubles No 1, a six-time Grand Slam champion, and frequent tennis pundit.

Defending Sinner, she replied: “Because ‘he’ was cleared of any wrongdoing doing. ‘He’ is serving a ban based on his team’s incompetence in the eyes of WADA. The afore mentioned players had different suspensions.”

The Australian then backed the Italian further after another reply claiming that Sinner was “responsible” for the actions of his team members.

“ITIA and WADA both cleared him and said he was not at fault,” added Stubbs.

“WADA knew they needed a win of some sort to make sure players don’t use that excuse going forward. ‘My team’ contaminated me. There was ambiguity in this judgement with his team being the cause but they needed something.”

Sinner has so far missed just one event he was meant to play due to his suspension, having been forced out of last week’s Qatar Open in Doha.

However, he will not be in action at Indian Wells this coming fortnight – the event where one of his two positive tests took place 12 months ago.

The Italian will also be unable to defend his Miami Open title and will miss further Masters 1000 events in Monte Carlo and Madrid.

Sinner will be able to return for the Italian Open in May, the final significant event before the French Open starts at the end of that month.