Jannik Sinner accepted a three-month tennis ban for two positive doping tests

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.”

[From The NY Times]

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.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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17 Responses to “Jannik Sinner accepted a three-month tennis ban for two positive doping tests”

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  1. Jas says:
    February 16, 2025 at 8:28 am

    Ick. Men’s tennis is not in a good way at the moment. A doper who receives only a slap on the wrist, a multiply-accused domestic abuser, and an anti-vaxer at the top of the rankings.
    I hope Alcaraz is clean and remains healthy.

    The Swiatak situation is also very dodgy. Quite different treatment to that meted out to Simona Halep.

  2. ShazBot says:
    February 16, 2025 at 8:39 am

    Very curious how he could be “contaminated” by a trainer who used steroids – like what is the mechanism there? Sounds like those vaccine shedding lunatics.

    • Lau says:
      February 16, 2025 at 9:26 am

      It’s curious because it’s bullsh*t.

    • NikkiK says:
      February 16, 2025 at 11:51 am

      Here’s an AP article about it. And as expected he tested positive for trace amounts. It’s an ingredient in an over the counter spray used to help cuts and scrapes heal faster. Although the manufacturer does advise that using may possibly result in a positive result for those who are supposed to follow anti-doping protocols.

      “The International Tennis Integrity Agency investigation found that Sinner had a trace amount of Clostebol in his system, a point he illustrated before the U.S. Open began by using eight fingers to count out the number of zeroes before the “1” in the amount, .000000001.”

      https://apnews.com/article/us-open-jannik-sinner-doping-trofodermin-clostebol-a0ad903ead6af09dde6ed0a890ffbd68

      • ML says:
        February 16, 2025 at 4:52 pm

        NikkiK, that was a great AP article, and it does put this into perspective. It changed my mind regarding his punishment.

        Years ago, I met someone who was dead scared to eat a poppy seed bagel, because one of their colleagues had done so and teated positive for heroin.

      • Ms single malt says:
        February 17, 2025 at 7:00 am

        Thanks for the link, Nikkik. Very informative. The penalty makes much more sense.

    • Robert Wright says:
      February 16, 2025 at 12:12 pm

      Shazbot,
      It is possible for someone who uses a topical steroidal cream to “contaminate” someone else depending on the cream. If you put it on without gloves or don’t thoroughly wash the cream from your hands it can be passed to another person. There is a warning on most steroid creams about this. My husband had to use one once, and it’s one of the first things he was warned about. I would think a personal trainer would have known this, but it is possible he passed it on by applying it to himself before working on the player. Not really likely, but possible.

  3. Nanea says:
    February 16, 2025 at 8:48 am

    Team Sinner’s excuses ring hollow, but I also don’t get how they (ATP, Team Sinner) actually aren’t ashamed to mention a *settlement*, with WADA pretending that nothing really happened and they are ok with it.

    As much as I liked to watch tennis, they already lost me when Dopapova was able to get her judgment halved, from a four years’ ban down to two, without losing any previous titles, even after it came out that she had been (mis-) using meldonium for ~ 10 years.

    It has only gone downhill since.

    • Ereal says:
      February 17, 2025 at 2:09 am

      Right
      Only this is a radically different case.

      Wada was looking for a VIP scalp to emerge from the Chinese Swimmers Scandal.
      They got cornered because:
      1) they were risking to lose the trial;
      2) they already put in place new rules for the contamination cases and therefore in a couple of years cases like this will not even be recorded, let alone prosecuted;
      3) the guy accepted on the basis that he has been declared clean and he is not losing any slam tournement.
      Also, you never refuse a settlement proposal from Wada, they can retaliate and make the life of an athlete almost unsurvivable

  4. Jais says:
    February 16, 2025 at 9:37 am

    Skeeetchy. Does this guy have fans outside of Italy or do most people just look at him as a cheater?

  5. Thinking says:
    February 16, 2025 at 9:57 am

    Men’s tennis is so strange right now. I can’t imagine Federer or Sampras having a failed drug test.

  6. LolaB says:
    February 16, 2025 at 10:04 am

    Lol his last name is literally Sinner

  7. Susan Collins says:
    February 16, 2025 at 10:22 am

    With “punishment “ like that this will not stop the doping so why even bother with the testing!

  8. Wendy says:
    February 16, 2025 at 11:38 am

    Yet Serena was literally tested twice as often as her counterparts .

  9. NikkiK says:
    February 16, 2025 at 12:01 pm

    I posted a link to an AP article about the case and to me it just goes to show the ridiculousness of WADA. Nobody is getting a performance boost from trace amounts of a corticosteroid in topical spray.

  10. Bumblebee says:
    February 16, 2025 at 12:01 pm

    I hope the trainer got a bonus check for taking the fall. And how many WADA members have new cars or boats? Everything about this stinks.