Jannik Sinner’s positive drug test resulted in a three-month ban

Jannik Sinner, who reached a settlement with WADA after two positive drug tests in 2024, was banned for three months.

Jannik Sinner and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) came to a deal after two positive drug tests in 2024, and Sinner will be suspended from professional tennis for three months.

Sinner is permitted to return in time for the French Open starting on May 25th, since the suspension is valid from February 9 to May 4.

The ruling has raised criticism right away. Nick Kyrgios, a 2022 Wimbledon finalist, criticized the punishment’s seeming leniency, saying it showed that “fairness in tennis does not exist.”

After testing positive for the anabolic drug clostebol in March 2024, Sinner won his third Grand Slam championship at the Australian Open last month. He was exonerated in August by an impartial panel, nevertheless, which accepted his claim that the prohibited drug had accidentally entered his bloodstream. The tribunal found that while giving him a massage, his physiotherapist, Giacomo Naldi, had accidentally given Sinner a clostebol spray that he had used to treat a cut on his finger.

Sinner fired Naldi after the decision, as well as Umberto Ferrara, his trainer who had provided the over-the-counter spray.

However, WADA appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after contesting the tribunal’s decision, first requesting a penalty of one to two years.

WADA issued a statement on Saturday admitting that the chemical had no performance-enhancing effects and that Sinner had no intention of cheating.

The FDA did stress, though, that athletes are ultimately accountable for the carelessness of their teams under anti-doping rules. WADA declared that a three-month suspension was the right course of action given the particular facts of this instance.

Sinner told Sky Sports News, via his attorneys, that he was relieved that the protracted procedure had finally come to an end. “The process still had a long way to go, and this case had been looming over me for almost a year,” he stated.

“I’ve always understood that I am accountable to my team and that the stringent regulations of WADA are a crucial safeguard for the sport I adore.” WADA has offered to settle these proceedings with a three-month punishment, and I have accepted that offer.

Sinner will have just a few weeks to get ready for the French Open, where he hopes to maintain his stellar 2024 season and defend his No. 1 position, since his ban is scheduled to expire in early May.