Tennis world No1 Sinner is officially a doper ... have faith in his innocence at your peril
The outcry from within his own sport at the Italian player's short and convenient ban for failing two drug tests tells its own story. But the sport has long been soft on drugs
Jannik Sinner, Italy’s 23-year-old World No1 male tennis player, is technically a drugs cheat, which is why he is currently serving a three-month doping ban following a controversial “settlement” with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) after two failed drugs tests.
He tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid clostebol in March last year and claimed it was due to an inadvertent transfer of that substance from his physio, Giacomo Naldi, during massages around the time of the 2024 Indian Wells tournament.
Naldi had apparently cut his finger that week, and had used a spray called Trofodermin to treat it, and that spray contained clostebol. The spray in turn had been purchased by Sinner’s physical trainer, Umberto Ferrara, over the counter in Italy in the second week of February 2024, and was taken to the USA despite the fact it had a warning sign on the box about doping implications.
None of this is disputed, or rather not disputed that much. If you care to read the tribunal document (below) where the anti-doping body the ITIA and Sinner made their cases, last year, there are discrepancies. Read from points 32 onwards in that document.
Ferrara said he clearly warned Naldi that there was a doping risk to Sinner around this product. Naldi doesn’t recall this warning, and says he didn’t know it contained clostebol.
Naldi said he cut his finger on a scalpel in a wash bag in a villa where they were staying. A friend of Sinner said the cut happened in another location entirely. (See point 106 of the document above).
Sinner is pictured below (top right) at last year’s French Open, with Naldi in the blue t-shirt and Ferrara bottom right.
The ITIA ultimately concluded Sinner didn’t know Naldi had used a spray with clostebol, and wasn’t deliberately using a banned steroid for performance enhancement. So it doesn’t actually matter now which of the above claims are true.
To paraphrase Sinner’s compatriot and philosopher, Thomas Aquinas, what is truth anyway?
Oh, and Sinner has earned $39,389,088 in on-court prize money alone so far in his career. There is a lot at stake for a tennis player achieving great results consistently at the highest level. And a lot of money available for such a player to hire the best lawyers to make sure his case is heard in a crisis.
That Sinner has now accepted a doping ban effectively boils down - he and his allies say - to the fact that ultimately he is responsible for what’s in his body, and in turn responsible for what one of his staff, inadvertently or otherwise, caused to be transferred into his body. And let’s face it, a three- month ban in a quiet-ish period in the schedule instead of a year or two is one cushy deal.
WADA wanted a much longer ban and appealed the ITIA verdict to the Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS). A hearing was scheduled for mid-April before the announcement of the carve-up, I mean agreement, that Sinner will just serve three months.
The next tournament in which the World No1 - and reigning US Open and Australian Open champion - can play is in his native Italy, at the clay-court Italian Open, which starts on 7 May. What a comeback he’ll enjoy in front of his own fans.
Tennis has an, erm, unfortunate relationship with drug cases, to which we’ll return shortly.
And Italian sportspeople have an, erm, unfortunate relationship with clostebol, to which we’ll return shortly.
Suffice to say Sinner’s deal with WADA to take a short ban that allows him back into competition in time for the next Grand Slam event - the French Open - has gone down terribly in the world of tennis.
Three-time Slam singles winner Stan Wawrinka tweeted: “I don’t believe in clean sport anymore…”.
Former British No1 tennis Tim Henman said “it seems a little convenient” that Sinner’s ban was so well-timed. The ban timing was also slammed by British player Liam Broady.
Former Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios was also scathing, saying: “Obviously Sinner's team have done everything in their power to just go ahead and take a three-month ban, no titles lost, no prize money lost. Sad day for tennis. Fairness in tennis does not exist.”
Crikey, even Novak Djokovic has been outspoken about the unfairness of Sinner’s perceived lenient treatment, because he is world No1.
“There’s a majority of the players that I’ve talked to in the locker room, not just in the last few days, but also last few months, that are not happy with the way this whole process has been handled,” said the gluten-free, 24-times Grand Slam winner Djokovic.
“A majority of the players don’t feel that it’s fair. A majority of the players feel like there is favouritism happening. It seems like, it appears that you can almost affect the outcome if you are a top player, if you have access to the top lawyers.
“Jannik will have a three-month suspension due to some mistakes and negligence of some members of his team, who are working on the tour. This is also something that I personally and many other players find strange.”
What has long been strange is the tennis world’s attitude to failed drugs tests, and also Italian sport’s relationship with clostebol.
Neither of these trends fill you with faith that tennis is a well-policed or fair sport from a doping perspective, and hasn’t been for decades, as we’re about to see.