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Jannik Sinner, the world number one tennis player from Italy, has been banned from the sport for three months with immediate effect after two positive drug tests last year. As the Italian accepted the immediate ban, following a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in regard to doping, he won’t be eligible to play on the ATP World Tour from February 9 until May 4 this year, while he can return to training on April 13.
With the ban running till the majority of the first half of the month of May, Jannik Sinner will be just in time to participate in the second Grand Slam of the year, French Open, which will begin with the qualifier rounds on May 19, just six days before the main draw kicks off in Paris. It was just last month when Jannik Sinner defeated Alexander Zverev to win the Australian Open for the second-straight time in his career.
This case had been hanging over me for nearly a year: Jannik Sinner's lawyers on his behalf
In their official statement on Saturday, February 15, WADA stated that they entered into a case resolution agreement with Jannik Sinner, which led to him accepting a ban of three months for anti-doping rule violation. At the same time, they accepted that the Italian had no intention to cheat, and he was exposed to clostebol without his knowledge due to his team’s negligence, while it didn’t help in enhancing his performance either.
WADA also stated that Jannik Sinner still has to be responsible for the doping incident, and wrote, “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.”
The statement from Jannik SInner’s lawyers on behalf of him stated that “this case had been hanging over me 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. 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.”
