LONDON
\nWorld number one Jannik Sinner has accepted an immediate three-month doping ban after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said they had reached a settlement on his period of ineligibility, allowing him to return before the French Open in May.
\nWADA had appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against Sinner\u2019s initial exoneration by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), announced in August after the three-time major winner failed drug tests.
\nSinner, who successfully defended his Australian Open crown last month, had tested positive for anabolic agent clostebol which the 23-year-old said had entered his system from a member of his support team through massages and sports therapy.
\nSinner\u2019s ban began on February 9 and will end on May 4 while he can return to training on April 13. The French Open is scheduled to begin on May 25.
\n\u201cWADA confirms that it has entered into a case resolution agreement in the case of Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner, with the player accepting a three-month period of ineligibility for an anti-doping rule violation,\u201d WADA said in a statement on Saturday.
\n\u201cWADA 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. However, under the Code and by virtue of CAS precedent, an athlete bears responsibility for the entourage\u2019s negligence.\u201d
\nThe case was set to be heard by CAS in April and Sinner was in danger of being banned for up to two years. Sinner will miss Masters tournaments at Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo and Madrid.
\nThe positive tests were not intially made public while the ITIA investigation was ongoing and Sinner had been allowed to carry on playing after successfully appealing provisional suspensions.
\n\u201cWe were satisfied that the player had established the source of the prohibited substance and that the breach was unintentional. Today\u2019s outcome supports this finding,\u201d said the ITIA on Saturday.
\nWADA has formally withdrawn its appeal to CAS after they reached a settlement while they did not seek disqualification of his results.
\n\u201cThis 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,\u201d Sinner said in a statement.
\n\u201cI have always accepted that I am responsible for my team and realise WADA\u2019s strict rules are an important protection for the sport I love. On that basis I have accepted WADA\u2019s offer to resolve these proceedings on the basis of a three-month sanction.\u201d
\nThe ATP said it acknowledged the resolution of Sinner\u2019s case following his agreement with WADA.
\n\u201cThis case is an important reminder of players\u2019 responsibility to carefully manage the products and treatments they or their entourages use,\u201d it said.
\nSinner is the second high-ranked player to accept a doping ban in recent months after world number two Iga Swiatek accepted a one-month suspension in November having tested positive for banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ).
\nSwiatek had been provisionally suspended from September 12 until October 4, missing three tournaments as a result while she also forfeited prize money from the Cincinnati Open, the tournament directly following the test.
\nSinner\u2019s lawyer Jamie Singer said WADA had confirmed the facts determined by the independent tribunal. \u201cIt is clear that Jannik had no intent, no knowledge, and gained no competitive advantage. Regrettably, errors made by members of his team led to this situation,\u201d Singer said.<\/p>\n
\u2018BIAS IS UNACCEPTABLE\u2019
\nHowever, the decision did not go down well with the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), an organisation established by Novak Djokovic.
\n\u201cThe \u2018system\u2019 is not a system. It\u2019s a club. Supposed case-by-case discretion is, in fact, merely cover for tailored deals, unfair treatment, and inconsistent rulings,\u201d the PTPA said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the different results for different players. It\u2019s the lack of transparency. The lack of process. The lack of consistency… This bias is unacceptable for all athletes and shows a deep disrespect for every sport and its fans.\u201d
\nAustralian Nick Kyrgios, who had previously said the two doping incidents were \u2018disgusting\u2019 for the sport, said it was a \u201csad day for tennis\u201d after several other players received longer bans for similar positive tests.
\nThree-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka was equally damning of the deal, writing: \u201cI don\u2019t believe in a clean sport anymore.\u201d
\nFormer world number one Simona Halep had questioned the \u201cbig difference\u201d in how doping cases are treated after she was banned despite strongly denying knowingly taking the banned substance roxadustat.
\nHalep was initially banned for four years, a period later reduced to nine months after an appeal.
\nThe ITIA\u2019s decision was made public just days before last year\u2019s US Open, which Sinner subsequently won to claim his second Grand Slam after breaking his major tournament duck at the previous Australian Open.
\nSinner then successfully defended his title at Melbourne Park last month, becoming just the fourth man to do so since the turn of the century alongside tennis icons Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
\nBy that point he had confirmed his status as national hero in Italy by winning the ATP Finals in Turin and then starring in his country\u2019s second straight Davis Cup triumph.
\nSinner, who pulled out of defending his title at this month\u2019s Rotterdam Open, had previously been viewed with some suspicion in the Mediterranean nation.
\nHis origins in the German-speaking areas of South Tyrol and residence in Monaco led to local media and former tennis players casting doubt on whether he was Italian at all.
\nBut he is now Italy\u2019s biggest sports star after surging to the top of the sport ahead of Spain\u2019s golden boy Carlos Alcaraz, himself a four-time Grand Slam champion at the age of 21.
\nItalian Tennis and Padel Federation president Angelo Binaghi said Sinner would be welcomed with open arms at the Italian Open, which begins in Rome three days after his ban ends.
\n\u201cThis is the first time that a shameful injustice makes us happy because our first thought is for the boy who sees the end of a nightmare,\u201d Binaghi said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON World number one Jannik Sinner has accepted an immediate three-month doping ban after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said they had reached a settlement on his period of ineligibility, allowing him to return before the French Open in May. WADA had appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against Sinner\u2019s initial exoneration […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462045,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-462017","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n