Despite being caught in a doping allegation controversy, Jannik Sinner has had the most successful and eventful season of his career in 2024.
Sinner is the reigning Australian Open and US Open champion, and recently, he won his seventh title of the season in Shanghai in spite of testing positive for clostebol in March.
Clostebol is an anabolic steroid that can help athletes build muscle mass and enhance their athletic performance. This drug has been on WADA’s prohibited drugs since 2004.
Fortunately, an independent panel presented by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) declared that there was “no fault or negligence” on Sinner’s part, saying that he had provided a credible explanation.
However, this decision has been challenged by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which launched an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). There has been no date set yet for the hearing.
With all this happening, Djokovic admitted: “Whatever’s going to happen, I just wish for it to be resolved as soon as possible… This whole case is not helping our sport at all.”
Will Sinner be banned?
WADA is seeking a ban of one to two years for Sinner. This ban is to be applied from the date of the CAS ruling.
In this case, the organization believes that the decision stating that the player has ‘no fault or negligence’ is “not correct under the applicable rules”.
Sinner did not contest that clostebol was found in his urine test, and WADA is not questioning his explanation as to why the illegal substance was detected in his system. However, WADA believes that the player must take some of the responsibility for the incident.