Jannik Sinner, winner this season of the Australian Open and the US Open, is still in the news. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced on Saturday September 28 that it had appealed and is calling for a suspension of one to two years of the current world number one.
The Italian player was cleared by the ITIA, the agency in charge of anti-doping in tennis, afterr tested positive twice for clostebol, an anabolic steroid, last March during the Indian Wells tournament. “We can’t control everything. I am of course very disappointed and also surprised”confided Jannik Sinner, currently involved in a tournament near Beijing, after this announcement from WADA.
Trace amounts of this steroid have been found in athlete’s urine. The Italian player explained “that the substance had entered his body following 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.”
A CAS decision expected
At first instance, an independent court concluded that Sinner had committed “no fault or negligence”. For WADA, this decision is not “not correct with regard to the applicable rules“. In Beijing, the 23-year-old said he was “convinced of being found innocent.”The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will be called upon to decide on this matter.
The ITIA’s decision sparked many reactions from his fellow players. Some, like the Australian Nick Kyrgios or the Frenchman Lucas Pouille, did not hesitate to express their anger. “Maybe we should stop taking us for idiots, right…?”, the French athlete slipped into his X account (ex-Twitter).
Read more
Related News :