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Jannik Sinner - Cincinnati Open 2024, Denis Shapovalov - Australian Open 2023

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Jannik Sinner doping situation ‘not right’ claims Denis Shapovalov

Matthew Johns
Matthew Johns
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Jannik Sinner has been in the eye of a storm over the past week, after it was announced that he had failed two anti-doping tests earlier this year, and former top 10 player Denis Shapovalov has now had his say on the situation.Sinner won the Cincinnati Masters title for the first time on Monday, but just a day later it was announced that he had been cleared of any wrongdoing for two previous failed anti-doping tests.
These failed tests took place back in March at Indian Wells, when the Italian was found to have tested positive for the prohibited substance clostebol. However, Sinner was able to continue playing on the ATP Tour after the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted his contamination plea. Sinner claims that he was contaminated following a massage from his physiotherapist, Giacomo Naldi, who had used an over the counter spray that contained the steroid. This whole situation has unsurprisingly provoked a lot of opinions from many people across social media, including Denis Shapovalov who published a couple of posts on social media after the news became public. “Can’t imagine what every other player that got banned for contaminated substances is feeling right now,” Shapovalov wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), followed by, “Different rules for different players.”
Shapovalov has since followed up on these posts when speaking to Tennis Majors, revealing that his issue is not with Sinner, but the inconsistencies within the system. “Honestly, it has nothing to do with Jannik. To me, it’s just about how they handle every situation differently, depending on what player it is,” explained the Canadian. “It’s not right that some players have been suspended for years for contamination, and other players are able to play and they’re just trying to sweep it under the rug. There are a couple of other players who have never tested positive and missed a couple of tests, and are given an 18-month ban.” Shapovalov referred to players that have been banned for missing anti-doping tests, with Mikael Ymer being one of the more recent cases of this, after the Swede was suspended for 18 months back in July 2023 following missing three tests in a 12-month period. While Ymer remains on the sidelines, Sinner will return to action next week as the top seed at the
US Open, that gets underway on Monday 26th August.Inside the baseline…It is a very messy situation and there are so many different ways to look at it. However, like Denis Shapovalov has said it is hard not to empathise with those that have had to play out their situations more publicly while the case was ongoing, including Simona Halep, Mikael Ymer and British player Tara Moore, amongst others. The whole conclusion of this leaves a bad taste in your mouth, regardless of whether Sinner’s version of events remains to be correct.
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