The Italian tennis superstar Jannik Sinner tested positive twice for doping in March. This became known when Sinner publicly announced his acquittal in the matter on his “Instagram” on Tuesday.
According to him, the 23-year-old is not guilty of the contamination with Clostebol, but rather it is his physiotherapist’s fault.
Sinner’s case was presented to the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) arbitration panel in London. This panel ruled that Sinner is innocent.
Contamination through Indirect Means
The physiotherapist, Umberto Ferrara, had purchased the spray “Trofodermin,” which contains the steroid. Another physiotherapist of Sinner, Giacomo Naldi, reportedly cut himself while trying to trim his calluses with a scalpel, according to the US sports medium “The Athletic.”
Naldi intended to treat himself with the steroid spray and did not inform himself about its ingredients. He then continued to treat Sinner in early March, while the tennis player had open wounds on his body, which resulted in Sinner coming into contact with Clostebol, a banned anabolic androgenic steroid.
According to the report, Sinner fully cooperated with the investigators.
“I will now leave this very difficult and extraordinarily unfortunate period behind me,” “The Athletic” quotes Sinner.
Not the First Case
In 2021, two young Italian tennis players tested positive for Clostebol. Both players were definitively suspended because Clostebol is indeed a banned anabolic androgenic steroid. Sinner appealed against his two positive tests in March 2024, which is why he was allowed to continue playing.
The 23-year-old Italian is currently coached by Darren Cahill – who in the past was the coach of the recently suspended Romanian tennis player Simona Halep due to doping.
Halep was suspended in October 2022 for a positive doping test for the substance Roxadustat. She was initially banned for six years, but because the international sports court found that she did not intentionally dope, her sentence was reduced to nine months. She is thus eligible to play again. Halep took contaminated supplements on the advice of her coaches.
Sinner currently leads the ATP world ranking. In January, he won the Australian Open, but due to illness, he skipped the Olympics. On Monday, the 23-year-old won the Cincinnati Masters in the USA.