‘Prominent player’ Jannik Sinner under fire in PTPA legal documents
The Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) has decided to take on the tennis “cartel” of the ATP, WTA, International Tennis Federation and International Tennis Integrity Agency and “prominent player” Jannik Sinner has been heavily condemned in legal documents.
They association – co-founded by Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil in 2019 – has started legal proceedings against the governing bodies for implementing “anticompetitive restraints and abusive practices”.
Pospisil, Nick Kyrgios, Reilly Opelka and Sorana Cirstea are among 12 players who were named as plaintiffs in a 163-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York.
PTPA executive director Ahmad Nassar said in a statement: “Tennis is broken. Behind the glamorous veneer that the defendants promote, players are trapped in an unfair system that exploits their talent, suppresses their earnings, and jeopardizes their health and safety.”
The 163-page document contains 475 different points covering various topics, but under VI. FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS (D. Defendants Abuse Their Dominance Through The Sham and Arbitrary Investigative Processes of the ITIA), reigning world No 1 Sinner’s failed drug case is brought to light.
Sinner returned two positive samples for the banned substance clostebol in March 2024 and he was initially provisionally suspended, but that decision was reversed after appeals from lawyers.
He was then cleared of any wrongdoing in August with the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) stating an independent tribunal found he bore “no fault or negligence” as they accepted the Italian’s explanation for his failed tests.
In point No 245 of the PTPA document it states that Sinner’s “physical therapist had accidentally applied a banned substance to Sinner’s skin during treatment.”
The PTPA complaint read: “The ITIA proved in August 2024 that its heavy-handed approach is arbitrary and selective. That month, the ITIA announced that Jannik Sinner, the top-ranked player on the ATP Tour, had twice tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid earlier that season.
“Unlike its dogged pursuit of other players, however, it accepted Sinner’s explanation that his physical therapist had accidentally applied a banned substance to Sinner’s skin during treatment.
“As a result of its immediate acceptance, the ITIA concluded that Sinner bore ‘no fault or negligence’ for his positive test and permitted him to compete in the 2024 U.S. Open, which Sinner won.
“There was no investigation that dragged for over a year into a prominent player who had not vocalized any issues with the cartel.”
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Yet, the official ITIA press release about the findings stated Sinner’s physiotherapist didn’t directly apply the banned substance to his skin, instead a spray that contained clostebol was used.
And even that spray wasn’t applied directly to Sinner’s skin as his physio used it to treat a cut on his finger and then later, when massaging Sinner, the contamination took place.
Here is the full statement: “The player explained that the substance had entered their system as a result of contamination from a support team member, who had been applying an over-the-counter spray (available in Italy) containing clostebol to their own skin to treat a small wound. That support team member applied the spray between 5 and 13 March, during which time they also provided daily massages and sports therapy to Sinner, resulting in unknowing transdermal contamination.”
The PTPA is clearly also unimpressed with Sinner’s decision not to criticise tennis authorities when it comes to issues facing players as he has often refused to get dragged into discussions over concerns over the lengthy tennis calendar.
And the organisations’s final paragraph took aim at the three-time Grand Slam winner, stating: “There was no investigation that dragged for over a year into a prominent player who had not vocalized any issues with the cartel.”
Sinner is currently serving a ban for those positive tests as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed against the initial ITIA ruling. They also accepted the cause for the positive test, but felt he should still be punished.
In February they reached an agreement with the Italian’s lawyers for a three-month suspension.
24-time Grand Slam winner Djokovic as well as Kyrgios were among those who were critical about the short ban with the former stating: “The majority of the players feel like there is favouritism happening.”
