Jannik Sinner doping ban clearance appealed by WADA

It appears that the Jannik Sinner doping saga is far from over, with the World Anti-doping Agency ‘seeking a period of ineligibility of between one and two years’ for the current World No.1. 

Sinner failed two anti-doping tests back in March taken within an eight day period, after a billionth of a gram of the prohibited substance clostebol, a steroid that can build muscle mass, was found in his system.

However, the Italian overturned his automatic suspension after appealing on the grounds of contamination.

Sinner’s claim was that he was contaminated by former physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi, who had used an over-the-counter spray on his own hand that contained clostebol prior to massaging the Australian Open champion.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted this defence, enabling Sinner to continue playing and actually winning his next tournament at the Miami Open.

pic.twitter.com/8UhRd8qik9

— Jannik Sinner (@janniksin) August 20, 2024

A subsequent independent tribunal ruled that Sinner bared ‘no fault or negligence’ for the failed anti-doping tests, but stripped him of his 400 ranking points and $325,000 prize money for reaching the Indian Wells semi-finals (when the tests were taken).

However, it does not appear that WADA are happy with this outcome, with the foundation releasing a statement confirming that they are going to appeal the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

“It is WADA’s view that the finding of ‘no fault or negligence’ was not correct under the applicable rules,” read the statement “WADA is seeking a period of ineligibility of between one and two years. WADA is not seeking a disqualification of any results, save that which has already been imposed by the tribunal of first instance.”

WADA appeals case of tennis player Jannik Sinner. Read more here: https://t.co/vExHGdmkZG

— WADA (@wada_ama) September 28, 2024

While this announcement has been made breaking news across the sporting world, Sinner himself is currently embroiled in a second round battle with Roman Safiullin at the China Open.

Inside the baseline…

It had appeared that Jannik Sinner was moving on from the case after winning the US Open, but this latest announcement confirms that this case is far from over. The potential of a two year ban for the current World No.1 and holder of two Grand Slam titles would be huge, but there is still a long way to go before any outcome is revealed. It will be very interesting to see what Sinner has to say about all of this, especially as he had hoped to move away from the situation.

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