Jannik Sinner’s drug case is now in the rear view. On Saturday, the three-time Grand Slam champion and No. 1 player in the world received his punishment from the pair of positive doping violations from last year and will serve a three-month suspension, spanning from Feb. 9 to May 4. The next Grand Slam tournament will be the French Open, which will begin on May 25.
Sinner, 25, was found to have trace amounts of Clostebol in his sample last year, which Sinner and his team argued was from a massage from a trainer who used a substance to treat a cut on his finger. The International Tennis Integrity Agency accepted this explanation and chose not to move forward with any charges against Sinner. However, the World Anti-Doping Agency challenged that decision and was pushing for at least a one-year ban for the Italian.
“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 in a statement. “I have always accepted that I am responsible for my team and realize 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.”
Sinner is coming off a career year in 2024, in which he won the Australian Open and US Open. He also won the ATP Finals in Turin before claiming a second Aussie Open title last month.
“WADA accepts the athlete’s explanation for the cause of the violation as outlined in the first instance decision. 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,” it said in Saturday’s announcement.
“However, under the code and by virtue of CAS precedent, an athlete bears responsibility for the entourage’s negligence. Based on the unique set of facts of this case, a three-month suspension is deemed to be an appropriate outcome. As previously stated, WADA did not seek a disqualification of any results, save that which was previously imposed by the tribunal of first instance.”
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