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SCMP Sport

Agencies

Tennis world No 1 Jannik Sinner has accepted a three-month ban for doping after a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).
The ban relates to the Italian’s positive test for a banned substance in March last year.
“Mr Sinner will serve his period of ineligibility from February 9, 2025 to 11.59pm on May 4, 2025,” Wada said in a statement on Saturday.
The ban will leave him eligible to return before the French Open starts on May 25.
Sinner last month won the Australian Open, his third grand-slam crown, having previously won last year’s Australian Open and US Open.

Wada, which was initially seeking to ban Sinner from the sport for at least a year, had appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the decision of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) in August not to suspend the Italian. The ITIA had judged that the failed drug tests were caused by accidental contamination.
The 23-year-old Sinner had tested positive for anabolic agent clostebol, a banned substance. He said it had entered his system from a member of his support team through massages and sports therapy. The case was set to be heard by CAS in April.
“Wada confirms that it has entered into a case resolution agreement in the case of Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner, with the player accepting a three-month period of ineligibility for an anti-doping rule violation,” Wada said in a statement on Saturday.
“Wada accepts that Mr Sinner did not intend to cheat and that his exposure to clostebol did not provide any performance-enhancing benefit and took place without his knowledge as the result of negligence of members of his entourage.
“However, under the code and by virtue of CAS precedent, an athlete bears responsibility for the entourage’s negligence.”
The doping agency added that it had formally withdrawn its appeal to CAS, and did not seek a disqualification of Sinner’s results.
Sinner admitted that mistakes led to him twice testing positive.
In a statement, Sinner said that Wada accepted that he “had no intent and did not derive any competitive advantage from the two positive tests”.
“This case had been hanging over me now for nearly a year and the process still had a long time to run with a decision maybe only at the end of the year,” Sinner said.
“I have always accepted that I am responsible for my team and realise Wada’s strict rules are an important protection for the sport I love. On that basis, I have accepted Wada’s offer to resolve these proceedings on the basis of a three-month sanction.”
The resolution meant Sinner became the second high-ranked player to accept a doping ban in recent months after women’s world No 2 Iga Swiatek accepted a one-month suspension in November having tested positive for banned substance trimetazidine, or TMZ.
Sinner could return at his home tournament, the Italian Open in Rome, which starts on May 7.
Italian Tennis and Padel Federation president Angelo Binaghi said that the case was “a shameful injustice” but that the ban would represent “the end of a nightmare” for Sinner.

Binaghi said the settlement “demonstrates Jannik’s innocence” and “all of Italy” would welcome him back at the Italian Open.
The ITIA acknowledged the settlement but said in its statement that “we were satisfied that the player had established the source of the prohibited substance and that the breach was unintentional”, adding that the outcome “supports this finding”.
Sinner’s London-based lawyer, Jamie Singer, said: “I am delighted that Jannik can finally put this harrowing experience behind him. Wada has confirmed the facts determined by the independent tribunal. It is clear that Jannik had no intent, no knowledge, and gained no competitive advantage. Regrettably, errors made by members of his team led to this situation.”


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ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)

Jannik Sinner poses with the Australian Open trophy that he won last month. Photo: Xinhua

Jannik Sinner poses with the trophy after winning the US Open last September. Photo: Xinhua

Jannik Sinner in action at the China Open in Beijing last October. Photo: AFP

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Sport

Tennis

Top-ranked men’s player agrees settlement with Wada over last year’s two positive drug tests


Top-ranked men’s player agrees settlement with Wada over last year’s two positive drug tests.
