On Saturday, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirmed that it had lodged an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on September 26 in the world No. 1 Jannik Sinner case.
Sinner was found by an independent tribunal of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) to bear no fault or negligence after twice testing positive for clostebol, a prohibited substance, in March 2024.
A WADA statement read, “It is WADA’s view that the finding of “no fault or negligence” was not correct under the applicable rules. WADA is seeking a period of ineligibility of between one and two years. WADA is not seeking a disqualification of any results, save that which has already been imposed by the tribunal of first instance.”
Sinner is the world’s No. 1 player and has had an outstanding season so far, winning the Australian and US Opens this year.
Last month, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced that Sinner failed two drug tests in March — one during a tournament in Indian Wells, California, and one eight days later — but that it was determined the banned anabolic steroid Clostebol entered his system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist, Giacomo Naldi.
Sinner’s defence was that his fitness trainer, Umberto Ferrara, purchased an over-the-counter spray that contained Clostebol in Italy, then gave it to Naldi, who used it on a cut finger. Sinner said Naldi then gave him a massage.
The 23-year-old fired his fitness trainer and physiotherapist because of his two positive steroid tests in March and said at his pre-U.S. Open presser that he knew he was innocent.
The controversy surrounding the eventual public relations of the case seemed to cast a cloud over his prospects at the U.S. Open. Still, the Italian put it behind him and won the tournament.
Main Photo Credit: Geoff Burke – USA TODAY Sports
