By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Monday, December 16, 2024
Photo credit: Will Murray/Getty
WADA's Chief believes Jannik Sinner could have been contaminated with the banned steroid clostebol.
But asserts the world No. 1 still bears some responsibility for failing a pair of doping tests last March.
WADA Director Olivier Niggli explained why the organization is appealing Sinner's steroid case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport—and seeking a ban of one to two years for the US Open champion.
More: Digging Deep Into Jannik Sinner Doping Case
Last March, Sinner twice tested positive for the banned steroid clostebol in "low levels" the International Tennis Integrity Agency announced in August days before the start of the US Open.
Australian Open champion Sinner was not suspended and permitted to play because an independent tribunal ruled he was at "no fault" for the steroid contamination in his system.
"The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) confirms that an independent tribunal convened by Sport Resolutions has ruled that Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner bears No Fault or Negligence for two Anti-Doping Rule Violations under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP), having twice tested positive for the prohibited substance clostebol in March 2024," the ITIA announced in a statement on August 20th.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Sinner adamantly denies doping or cheating.
In a new interview with AFP, WADA Director Niggli said even if Sinner's story of contamination is true, he still should bear some responsibility and suspension for his positive test. That's why WADA has appealed Sinner's case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Niggli said.
“It was considered in the decision that there was no fault on the part of Sinner. Our position is that there is still a responsibility of the athlete in relation to his entourage,” Niggli told AFP. “So it is this legal point that will be debated (before CAS).
"We do not dispute the fact that it could have been a contamination. But we believe that the application of the rules does not correspond to the case law."
At the US Open, Sinner said he was contaminated by the banned substance, clostebol, through contact with his physiotherapist.
Conceding he was “worried” he could be banned, Sinner said he was also confident he would be cleared because he believes the minute trace amounts of clostebol in his system reinforce his claim of inadvertent contamination.
“Of course I was worried, because it was the first time for me, you know, and hopefully the last time that I am in this situation, position,” Sinner said. “There also a different part we have to see is the amount I had in my body, which is 0.000000001, so there are a lot of zeroes before coming up a 1.
"So I was worried, of course, because I'm always the player who was working very, very carefully in this. I believe I'm a fair player on and off the court.”
Sinner's case was thrust back into the spotlight in September after the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed an appeal from Italian Stefano Battaglino against a ban imposed on him back in October 2023.
On September 12, 2024, the CAS tribunal upheld the four-year TADP suspension issued by the first-instance independent tribunal against Battaglino, who, like Sinner, tested positive for clostebol.
Battaglino, who reached a career-high world singles ranking of No. 760 in July 2022, tested positive for clostebol and its metabolites following an in-competition test in September 2022.
Ultimately, in Battaglino's case, the CAS tribunal determined that he "did not prove the source of the positive test, and that the arguments provided were “manifestly insufficient” to prove that the Anti-Doping Rule Violation was unintentional."
WADA Director Niggli said he expects a decision in the appeal of Sinner's doping case in early 2025.
“There will be nothing by the end of the year,” Niggli told AFP when asked for a timetable on the resolution of the appeal to the CAS.