Development in the Jannik Sinner case: the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced on Saturday that it had appealed and is calling for a suspension of one to two years for the Italian player, world No. 1. The latter, while he had been cleared in August by the International Agency for the Integrity of Tennis (Itia) after having tested positive twice for clostebol, an anabolic steroid, is caught up in an affair likely to shake up the hierarchy at the top of the little yellow ball. It is now the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) which must decide in this case involving the winner of the Australian Open and the US Open 2024.
The person concerned said “very disappointed and also surprised” by this call, Saturday, after his victory over the Russian Roman Safiullin (3-6, 6-2, 6-3) in the round of 16 of the Beijing tournament (ATP 500). “There were three hearings and all three ended very positively for me”he recalled. At first instance, an independent court concluded that the 23-year-old boy had not committed “no fault or negligence”a decision “not correct with regard to the applicable rules”, according to the AMA. Consequently, the anti-doping body based in Montreal (Canada) “requests a suspension period of one to two years” against the one who had already seen his ATP points withdrawn as well as the winnings obtained during the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells, a Californian event during which he had tested positive and had reached the semi-finals.
Spray for free sale
Sinner, along with the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, embodies the next generation of the ATP circuit. This season, the two have shared the four Grand Slam tournaments. The first became, three weeks ago, the first tennis player from his country to win in New York, the setting of the United States Open. In full rise after his first major title, won in Melbourne, in March 2024 he would undergo two positive doping tests eight days apart: on the 10th of the month in Indian Wells and on the 18th out of competition but just before Miami. Tiny quantities of clostebol were then found in his urine.
Both times, the child prodigy from San Candido had to appeal, which allowed him to reduce his automatic suspensions (from April 4 to 5 for the first, from April 17 to 20 for the second). He defended himself by explaining that he had suffered “contamination by a member of his staff, who had applied an over-the-counter spray containing clostebol to his own hand to treat a small injury”said L’Itia.
Since clostebol is not naturally produced by the body, no notion of threshold is taken into account
This file recalls that of his compatriot Marco Bortolotti: tested positive for clostebol as part of the Challenger tournament in Lisbon in October 2023, he had also established “involuntary contamination” and had only lost his results during this competition, without serving time. suspension.
The decision to clear the native of Trentino-Alto Adige sparked outraged reactions from some players, notably the Australian Nick Kyrgios and Frenchman Lucas Pouille. Before the US Open, Sinner separated from his physiotherapist, Giacomo Naldi, who was believed to have unintentionally contaminated him, and from his physical trainer, Umberto Ferrara, who had provided Naldi with the offending spray.
Since clostebol is not naturally produced by the body, no notion of threshold comes into account: it is enough to detect its presence for an anti-doping test to be considered positive. The AMA classifies it among the “anabolic androgenic steroids”, a long list of testosterone derivatives that could stimulate muscle growth, without explaining how much would have a significant effect on performance.
Related News :