Inside story on Jannik Sinner’s drug test appeal and his minimum potential suspension
The World Anti-Doping Agency’s have been told when their appeal against the punishment handed out to world No 1 Jannik Sinner following his failed drug test will take place.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport will hear the case on April 15 and 16, with any verdict going against the Italian set to see him banned for a minimum of one year.
That outcome would send shockwaves through tennis after the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) declared Sinner was not at fault after the banned anabolic steroid clostebol was flagged on his doping test at the ATP Masters event in Indian Wells last March.
Small traces of the performance-enhancing steroid triggered the positive drug test, with Sinner successfully arguing it got into his system after a member of his team used a cream containing clostebol to treat a cut on his finger and then transferred the drug to the Italian player when he gave him a massage.
WADA challenged the ITIA verdict and has asked for the Italian and now a clear roadmap of what comes next has been laid out.
WHAT SINNER SAYS
“I haven’t done anything wrong. That’s why I’m still here. That’s why I’m still playing. I don’t want to respond on what Nick said or what other players says. I think the most important part is to have my people around me who I can trust, people they exactly know what happened. That’s it.”
“You think about this, of course. I would lie if I would tell you I forget. No, it’s not like this. It’s something what I have with me now already for quite a long time. But it is what it is. I’m here trying to prepare the Grand Slam. Let’s see how it goes.”
WHAT THE ITIA SAY (CEO Karen Moorhouse speaking to Tennis365)
“If you test positive for a banned substance, your starting point for a possible sanction is four years. If you can demonstrate that it was not intentional, that reduces to two years. Then, if you can prove there was no fault, there is no sanction.
“In addition, a decision of ‘no significant fault or negligence’ could fall between a reprimand and two years. That applies to any cases around a contaminated substance.
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“It’s the same rules and the same processes for every player. All cases are different and each case turns on individual facts.
“Cases can also be quite complex, so it isn’t right to look at two headlines and draw comparisons as the detail is always the key part.
“The complication with the Sinner case is the positive test was not a result of a contaminated product. That is the difference between Swiatek and Halep. There is no contamination here.
“The product that the masseuse used on his finger was not contaminated. It contained exactly what it said the product ingredients and because it is not a contaminated product, the range for a sanction is a one-year to two-year suspension.
“The first tribunal found that Sinner had ‘no fault or negligence’, that he had used the utmost caution. Therefore, he faced no sanction.
“My understanding from WADA’s statements is they are challenging that because they believe there was an element of fault and that the outcome should have been ‘no significant fault or negligence’.”
WHAT WADA SAY
It is WADA’s view that the finding of “no fault or negligence” was not correct under the applicable rules. WADA is seeking a period of ineligibility of between one and two years. WADA is not seeking a disqualification of any results, save that which has already been imposed by the tribunal of first instance.
WHAT OTHER PLAYERS SAY
Novak Djokovic: “I’ve known Jannik since he was very young, so he doesn’t seem like the type of person who would do something like that, but I felt really frustrated, like most other players, to see that we were kept in the dark for five months after he received that news. It’s not a good image for our sport.”
Carlos Alcaraz: “It’s a really difficult moment for him, that’s for sure. It is complicated. I mean, I’m not gonna lie, it is complicated,” the world No 3 said. But obviously what I can say? I mean, in English it’s going to be difficult for me to explain myself, but I try. Well, I believe in a clean sport.
“So I don’t know too much about that. You know, I am pretty sure that there are a lot of things that we don’t know, you know, inside the team or inside, you know, everything. If they let Jannik keep playing, it’s for something, they said he’s innocent. So that’s all I know and that’s all I can talk about.”
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