Saaachi Baat Special
In one of the most bizarre cases pertaining to anti-doping, World No.1 Jannik Sinner has been cleared of “any wrongdoing” after testing positive twice for a banned substance in March 2024. The Italian, whose rise to the top has been phenomenal, has faced the wrath of the social media in the last few months but the ITIA (International Tennis Integrity Agency) has given him a clean chit.
To rewind, Sinner had tested positive for low levels of a metabolite of clostebol — a steroid that can be used to build muscle mass, during the Indian Wells tennis event earlier this year. A further sample taken eight days later also tested positive for low levels of the same metabolite. As was the norm, a provisional suspension was applied automatically. As Sinner challenged it successfully, he was able to keep playing on the ATP Tour and the Grand Slams. He will feature in the US Open as well, starting on Monday in New York.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) found Sinner was inadvertently contaminated with the substance by Giacomo Naldi, his physiotherapist. Naldi had been applying an over-the-counter spray available in Italy to a cut on his own hand and had then carried out treatments on Sinner. The ITIA accepted the explanation and that the violation was not intentional.
Sinner was cleared of fault or negligence by an independent tribunal last week, but he will lose the ranking points and prize money from his semi-final run at Indian Wells. “I will now put this challenging and deeply unfortunate period behind me,” Sinner said in a social media statement. “I will continue to do everything I can to ensure I continue to comply with the ITIA’s anti-doping programme. “I have a team around me that are meticulous in their own compliance.”
Even though Sinner has been given a clean chit, the tennis fraternity feels he should be banned, Leading the chorus against Sinner, the current Australian Open champion is Nick Kyrgios. How Jannik Sinner handles all this negativity will be interesting to watch in the coming fortnight.
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