Number one tennis player Jannik Sinner, has been hit with anti-doping sanctions after testing positive for the banned substance clostebol twice. Despite an independent tribunal ruling that Sinner was not at fault or negligent for the positive tests, he has lost his ranking points, prize money, and results from the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells from March 2024. The test conducted in the competition detected 76pg of clostebol per millilitre in his system. An out of competition test conducted later on March 18 found a metabolite of the same substance in his system with a higher concentration of 86pg per millilitre. If found at fault for such violations, a player would typically face a ban of four years.
Sinner was able to appeal the provisional suspension from tennis on both occasions under the investigation regarding his use of the banned substance. Consequently, he was able to continue playing and even achieve a win at the Cincinnati Masters title. Sport Resolutions, an independent private firm overseeing doping cases, approved the decision to lift both his suspensions. A hearing was held on August 15 by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), with Sport Resolutions once again overseeing. The tribunal ruled that Sinner was not at fault or negligent for the violations, with the Italian admitting to both and continuing to play as he has since the tests were conducted.
According to ITIA and Sinner’s team, they were in full cooperation during the investigation. The ITIA concluded that Umberto Ferrara, Sinner’s physiotherapist, unknowingly brought clostebol to Indian Wells under the brand name of Trofodermin. Another of Sinner’s physiotherapists, Giacomo Naldi, accidentally cut himself while treating Sinner’s callouses, and used the healing spray containing clostebol to treat the wound. The physiotherapist then carried on conducting massages and treatments on Sinner without checking the contents of the spray, following which Sinner suffered contamination.
Scientific expert Professor David Cowan commissioned by the ITIA to review the case commented on the amount of clostebol found in Sinner’s samples. He stated that an intentional administration of the amounts found would not have had any relevant doping effect or performance enhancement on the player. Sinner had lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals of Indian Wells and did not discover his positive test result until April, after winning the Miami Open. Tuesday’s tribunal decision revealed that Sinner faced provisional suspensions from April 4 and 5, and April 17 and 20.
Singer, Sinner’s lawyer, described the Italian as another in a line of athletes who suffered for the mistakes of his team and the ITIA didn’t formally contest his claim of innocence when it came to intentionally taking a banned substance. He stated that Sinner was responsible for his team’s mistakes under the current rules, which led to the positive test. Clostebol has been found in past tests involving Italian tennis players and is considered a weak steroid. It has the ability to aid muscle development and recovery following strenuous workouts, hence its appeal to athletes, despite being banned.
The anti-doping investigation and Sinner’s case have drawn attention to previous incidents, such as that involving former Grand Slam champion Simona Halep, who fought a six-year ban after testing positive for roxadustat. She successfully argued that the ingestion of the substance was inadvertent, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) consequently reduced her ban to nine months. These cases have sparked calls for reform and criticism of the ITIA’s lengthy investigations.
